Israel’s banking business day will be extended by three and a half hours from February 21, from 3 pm to 6:30 pm. The banking business day will be extended by one hour on Fridays and holiday eves, from 1 pm to 2 pm. The new hours are stipulated in a directive published by Bank of Israel Supervisor of Banks Yoav Lehman today.
The directive states, “It must be stressed that the banking business day and the banks' operating day do not necessarily correspond. A branch may be open at times different from those of the banking business day.”
Under the new directive, “There will be no difference between effecting a transaction in the morning and effecting it in the afternoon of the same day (except for Fridays and holiday eves). In both cases, the transaction will be recorded with that day's value date.
“Payments to authorities and suppliers carried out on a certain date will have that day's value date, provided it is carried out by 6:30 pm.
“Transactions other than over the counter in a branch, but via automatic teller machines (ATMs) or the bank's customer service box - it is the customer's responsibility to clarify up to what time transactions can be performed for them to be recorded on the same day. From February 21, 2006, the banks are obliged display a sign on the ATM or service box showing the latest time.
“The banks are asked to place a notice in their branches of the times for performing transactions, e.g., stock-exchange transactions and certain foreign currency transactions, regarding which the customer undertakes to issue an instruction to the bank up to a certain time.
The Bank of Israel said, “The extension of the business day is intended to enable the creation of closer correspondence between the banking business day and the banks' operating day, and to make transactions in additional areas easier, such as activity vis-a-vis the stock exchange or vis-a-vis abroad. The background to this is the reform of the payment systems in Israel which the Bank of Israel is leading, the major result of which will be the introduction of a Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, which will start operating in the first quarter of 2007. This system will guarantee rapid and reliable performance of payments, and will enable large payments to be made between individuals and companies during the day securely, immediately and finally, without the possibility of canceling the transaction thereafter.”
The Bank of Israel will not change the times it publishes representative exchange rates: 3:30 pm on weekdays, and 12:30 pm on Fridays and holiday eves.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 22, 2006