380 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
takes up such securities remaining in his account at the Cor- 
poration, after his final money settlement with it has been 
made. 
The Transfer Department.—Another service rendered by 
the Stock Clearing Corporation consists in rendering liquid 
registered securities whose certificates are for the time being 
tied up in transfer. 
In Wall Street it has long been the custom of Stock Ex- 
change firms to put in for transfer into their names, registered 
shares in the names of other firms, just before the transfer 
books close for dividends. In this way, sometimes very con- 
siderable amounts of securities belonging to stockbrokers or 
to their customers used to be tied up in the offices of company 
transfer offices or agents, and thus not be available for use as 
security collateral. In consequence, a heavy though temporary 
burden was formerly thrown on the capital of Stock Exchange 
hotises. 
To overcome this recurrent annoyance, in 1923 the Stock 
Clearing Corporation organized its Transfer Department, and 
housed it in the Day Branch; subsequently, as the volume of 
business grew, it was provided with a larger basement office. 
When a Stock Exchange firm now has securities which it 
wishes to put into transfer and at the same time borrow upon, 
it takes them to this Transfer Department and delivers them 
into its windows. In exchange the firm obtains an engraved 
certificate known as an “assignable transfer receipt,” which 
states on its face that the Stock Clearing Corporation has 
received certificates for a specified number of shares of a speci- 
fed stock issue, that these certificates are to be put into transfer, 
and that upon surrender of the transfer receipt, the Stock Clear- 
ing Corporation will deliver the new certificates to the trans- 
feree or to the persons to whom he may endorse the receipt, 
or if the certificate is endorsed in blank to the bearer.’” Assign- 
able transfer receipts are not supposed to be outstanding longer 
17 See Appendix XIIIec.