Provident funds and advanced training funds' foreign currency assets in Israel and overseas at the end of June do not exceed 1.5% of their total assets, and their assets in insurance companies do not exceed 1.1%.
Potential foreign currency investments by institutional investors (provident funds, advanced training funds, pension funds and insurance companies) totaled over $3 billion. However, their actual investments at the end of June 2001 was less than $1 billion, according to the Bank of Israel.
The reasons for the situation are tax discrimination against institutional investors’ investments overseas, the need to adapt Ministry of Finance regulations that permit foreign investors to operate overseas, and the absence of sufficient professional expertise. Consequently, provident funds and advanced training funds' foreign currency assets in Israel and overseas at the end of June do not exceed 1.5% of their total assets, and their assets in insurance companies do not exceed 1.1%.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 24 July 2001