Exactly a year after announcing that she would leave of the post of CEO of First International Bank of Israel, Smadar Barber-Tsadik is on the way back to FIBI Holdings (TASE: FIBIH), the company through which Zadik Bino controls the bank.
Talks have been taking place in recent weeks between Barber-Tsadik and FIBI on the post of CEO of the public company, and the negotiations are expected to be concluded within a few days. If the appointment goes ahead, Barber-Tsadik will replace Bino’s son Gil.
Since December, Barber-Tsadik has been chairperson of Ofer Investments, the company through which Liora Ofer controls shopping malls company Melisron. She is expected to continue in that role even after being appointed CEO of FIBI Holdings.
FIBI Holdings said in a statement: "Smadar Barber served for years in various roles in the FIBI group. We will be honored if she decides to contribute her abilities to the group. No decisions have yet been made by the authorized organs."
Conservative management that led to a 335% return
Barber-Tsadik became CEO of First International Bank in March 2007, replacing David Granot. At age 43, she was the youngest ever CEO of an Israeli bank, and she was the second woman CEO of an Israeli bank after Galia Maor at Bank Leumi. Only Maor, who headed Leumi for seventeen years, has served for longer as a bank CEO. For two years before becoming CEO, Barber-Tsadik headed First International Bank’s corporate division.
Over the period of her tenure as CEO, investors in First International Bank, headed by Bino, enjoyed an impressive return of 335%, double the return on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Banking Index over the period. Among other things, this was thanks to her conservative style of management. She was not tempted into adventures in the US, which entangled Israel’s biggest banks in proceedings by the US authorities, or by loans to leveraged tycoons, who collapsed one after another at the beginning of the previous decade.
Barber-Tsadik earned compensation costing NIS 70 million during her tenure, but, in line with the conservatism that characterized her and the bank, her employment terms were modest in comparison with those who ran Israel’s other banks, particularly Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 22, 2024.
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