During World War I, Germany established Ober Ost (also Obost) in the occupied territories of the former Russian Empire. It circulated special currency, German ostmark and German ostruble (collectively known as ostgeld), administered by Darlehnskasse Ost (Loan Bank of the East or Eastern Credit Bank). After the German surrender, other countries hastily introduced their own currencies (Latvian rublis, Estonian mark, Polish marka) to replace the now-obsolete ostmark. On December 31, 1918, the Lithuanian government signed an agreement with Germany that it will continue to honor ostmark without structural changes to the fiscal regime. In exchange, Lithuania received a much-needed loan of 100 million marks at 5% annual interest to finance its newly formed state institutions and army at the outbreak of the Lithuanian–Soviet War. The agreement was signed by Antanas Smetona and Martynas Yčas on the Lithuanian side and by Fischer and von Roy, directors of Darlehnskasse Ost, on the German side.