Through its network of branches and agencies spread over the entire country, the Bank of France is able economically and expeditiously to conduct the intermunicipal exchanges of the country. It participates in local clearings through membership in the clearing houses, at which balances are paid by checks drawn against credits on its books maintained for that purpose by all members, and it conducts so-called transfer accounts with other banks and financial institutions against which drafts can be drawn payable at any place where one of its offices is located. Such drafts constitute the chief means through which transfers of funds are made between different places. The business of the Bank of France with private persons is limited by the requirement that all paper discounted must have three signatures, or two signatures and collateral security, and that advances can only be made on the security of the forms of collateral indicated above. Most business men find it either inconvenient or impossible to comply with these conditions, and consequently transact most of their business with other banking institutions. The third signature on paper discounted by the Bank is, therefore, usually supplied by these institutions, which thus act as an intermediary between the Bank and the commercial world. Next to the Bank of France, the most important banking institutions of the country are the Credit Foncier, the Credit Lyonnais, the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris, the Societe Generale, and the Credit Industrielle et Commercial. The Credit Foncier is principally engaged in extending credit based on real estate security, but it also discounts large amounts of commercial paper. Its organization is modeled after that of the Bank of France, and, like that institution, it is controlled by the state. Since it is primarily an investment bank, a description of its principal operations will be deferred to the next chapter.