Latest news with #Hapoalim
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Smotrich's move to cut bank ties risks Palestinian supply crisis
JERUSALEM: An Israeli move to cut off cooperation with Palestinian banks could halt the supply of essential goods such as food and fuel to the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Monetary Authority said on Wednesday. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday. This move risks the Palestinian banking system, trade, and overall economy. Israeli banks Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank work with Palestinian banks. Some 53 billion shekels ($15.2 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, official data show. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday. Canceling the waiver would require approval by Israel's security Cabinet. No date for a vote has been set, and it was not clear whether it would pass. The PMA said it was following developments and warned that such disruption posed a serious threat to Palestinian access to basic goods and services. It noted it has ongoing coordination with the political leadership and international community to safeguard correspondent banking relationships. 'These efforts are vital to ensuring the continuity of commercial transactions and the payment of essential imports and services, including food, electricity, water, and fuel,' the PMA said. Smotrich said his decision came against the 'delegitimization campaign' by the Palestinian Authority against Israel globally. The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism. Without it, Palestinian banks would be cut off from the Israeli financial system. The PMA said depositors' funds within the Palestinian banking sector are secure and that the banking system remains integrated with the global financial network through a broad range of correspondent banks and continues to provide services to individuals and businesses domestically and internationally. Smotrich, under US pressure, had in late 2024 signed a waiver to extend cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks through November 2025. In the past, Smotrich sought to end the waiver but ultimately signed it due to pressure from the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His latest decision came hours after the UK and four other nations imposed sanctions on him and another far-right minister, accusing them of inciting violence in the West Bank. The sanctions included a freeze on assets and travel bans. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the action by the five countries was 'outrageous.'
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
End of cooperation with Israeli banks may harm Palestinian economy, Palestinians say
An Israeli move to cut off cooperation with Palestinian banks could halt the supply of essential goods such as food and fuel to the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) said on Wednesday. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday had ordered the cancellation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks, a move that puts the Palestinian banking system, trade and overall economy at risk. Israeli banks Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank work with Palestinian banks. Some 53 billion shekels ($15.2 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, official data show. Cancelling the waiver would require approval by Israel's security cabinet. No date for a vote has been set and it was not clear whether it would pass. The PMA said it was following developments and warned that such disruption posed a serious threat to Palestinian access to basic goods and services. It noted it has ongoing coordination with the political leadership and international community to safeguard correspondent banking relationships. "These efforts are vital to ensuring the continuity of commercial transactions and the payment of essential imports and services, including food, electricity, water and fuel," the PMA said. Smotrich said his decision came against the "delegitimization campaign" by the Palestinian Authority against Israel globally. The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism. Without it, Palestinian banks would be cut off from the Israeli financial system. The PMA said depositors' funds within the Palestinian banking sector are secure and that the banking system remains integrated with the global financial network through a broad range of correspondent banks and continues to provide services to individuals and businesses domestically and internationally. Smotrich, under U.S. pressure, had in late 2024 signed a waiver to extend cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks through November 2025. In the past, Smotrich sought to end the waiver but ultimately signed it due to pressure from the U.S. and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His latest decision came hours after the United Kingdom and four other nations imposed sanctions on him and another far-right minister, accusing them of inciting violence in the West Bank. The sanctions included a freeze on assets and travel bans. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the action by the five countries was "outrageous". ($1 = 3.4906 shekels)
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
End of cooperation with Israel's banks may harm Palestine economy, Palestinians say
An Israeli move to cut off cooperation with Palestinian banks could halt the supply of essential goods such as food and fuel to the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) said on Wednesday. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday had ordered the cancellation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks, a move that puts the Palestinian banking system, trade and overall economy at risk. Israeli banks Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank work with Palestinian banks. Some 53 billion shekels ($15.2 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, official data show. Cancelling the waiver would require approval by Israel's security cabinet. No date for a vote has been set and it was not clear whether it would pass. The PMA said it was following developments and warned that such disruption posed a serious threat to Palestinian access to basic goods and services. It noted it has ongoing coordination with the political leadership and international community to safeguard correspondent banking relationships. 'These efforts are vital to ensuring the continuity of commercial transactions and the payment of essential imports and services, including food, electricity, water and fuel,' the PMA said. Smotrich said his decision came against the 'delegitimization campaign' by the Palestinian Authority against Israel globally. The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism. Without it, Palestinian banks would be cut off from the Israeli financial system. The PMA said depositors' funds within the Palestinian banking sector are secure and that the banking system remains integrated with the global financial network through a broad range of correspondent banks and continues to provide services to individuals and businesses domestically and internationally. Smotrich, under US pressure, had in late 2024 signed a waiver to extend cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks through November 2025. In the past, Smotrich sought to end the waiver but ultimately signed it due to pressure from the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His latest decision came hours after the United Kingdom and four other nations imposed sanctions on him and another far-right minister, accusing them of inciting violence in the West Bank. The sanctions included a freeze on assets and travel bans. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the action by the five countries was 'outrageous.' ($1 = 3.4906 shekels)
Arab News
03-06-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Norway fund's ethics body reviews Israeli bank stakes over West Bank settler loans
OSLO/LONDON/JERUSALEM: The ethics watchdog for Norway's $1.9 trillion wealth fund is scrutinizing Israeli banks' practice of underwriting Israeli settlers' housebuilding commitments in the occupied West Bank in a review that could prompt up to $500 million in Council on Ethics, a public body set up by the Ministry of Finance, has, however, decided not to object to the Fund's investments in accommodation platforms such as Airbnb that offer rentals in the Jewish body checks that firms in the portfolio of the world's largest wealth fund meet ethical guidelines set by Norway's an interview with Reuters on May 22, Council head Svein Richard Brandtzaeg said it was examining how Israeli banks offer guarantees that protect Israeli settlers' money if the company building their home in the West Bank should practices are also being looked at 'but this is what we can see so far,' he said. 'That is what is well documented.' He declined to say how long the review would did not name the banks but, at the end of 2024, the fund owned about 5 billion crowns ($500 million) in shares in the five largest Israeli lenders, up 62 percent in 12 months, according to the latest banks — Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and First International Bank of Israel — did not answer requests for 2020, they have been included in a list of companies with ties to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories compiled by a UN mission assessing the implications for Palestinian investor concern has grown around the world over a 19-month-old Israeli onslaught that has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip in response to an attack by Hamas militants that killed more than 1,200 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East settlements are adjacent to Palestinian areas and some Israeli firms serve both Israelis and United Nations' top court last year found that Israeli settlements built on territory seized in 1967 were illegal, a ruling that Israel called 'fundamentally wrong,' citing historical and biblical ties to the RENTALS IN WEST BANK SETTLEMENTSIn mid-2024, the Council on Ethics began a new review of investments linked to the West Bank and examined 65 companies but recommended only petrol station chain Paz and telecoms company Bezeq for divestment, resulting in share Council also scrutinized some multinationals to see if their activities in the West Bank met its them were the accommodation platforms, including Airbnb, TripAdviser and Expedia, named on the UN list and accounting for about $3 billion in Fund the Council will not recommend watchlisting or divesting from those, Eli Ane Lund, head of its secretariat, said in the joint interview.'The company's activity must have some kind of influence on the (ethical) violations,' she said. 'It's not (enough) to have a connection, it has to have something to do with the violation, it must contribute to it.'The Council's recommendations go to the central bank, which is not obliged to follow them but generally investments are sold, it is done gradually to avoid alerting markets, and the decision is then made campaigners say the Council sets its bar too high for recommending divestments, and that the Norwegian government should instruct the fund to conduct a general divestment from Israel just as it did for Russia in 2022, three days after Moscow invaded most lawmakers support the Council's approach, and are set on Wednesday to formally endorse a parliamentary finance committee's decision not to order a wholesale boycott.
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Israel's Bank Leumi's quarterly profit rises, to pay shareholders 40% of income
TEL AVIV, May 20 (Reuters) - Leumi ( opens new tab, one of Israel's two largest banks, reported a rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday, boosted by an increase in financing income and a drop in provisions for bad debts. Leumi earned 2.4 billion shekels ($682 million) excluding one-time items in the first quarter of 2025, up from 2.1 billion a year earlier. Its return on equity was broadly steady at 15.4%. The bank's credit portfolio grew an annual 8%, while its loan loss expense slid 75% to 55 million shekels. Net interest income rose 6.6% to 4.02 billion shekels. Its Tier 1 capital ratio rose to 12.15% in the quarter from 11.98% a year ago. Leumi said it would distribute 40% of its quarterly net profit, or 961 million shekels, to shareholders - 721 million shekels as a cash dividend and the rest as a share buyback. Banks have pushed to raise payouts to 50% of net profit but Israel's banking regulator on Monday said was still too early to do so due to ongoing economic uncertainty stemming from the war in Gaza. Leumi's main rival Hapoalim ( opens new tab on Monday also reported higher profit of 2.4 billion shekels amid double-digit credit growth. ($1 = 3.5179 shekels)
