In the past four months, a real struggle for control has taken place at Bank Hapoalim (LSE:BKHD; TASE:POLI). The names - Zvi Ziv, Shai Talmon, and Barry Ben-Zeev - were like bishops on a great chessboard.
Great interests were at play behind the scenes. The Banking Supervisor has ordered Bank Hapoalim vice-chairman Dan Dankner to step down in March 2004, but he will stay on as a director, with the same status as another family representative who will be appointed. He is personally involved in the bank's business and the large amounts of credit it extends. He fought for Bank Hapoalim head of corporate banking Shai Talmon's appointment as CEO in the hope and expectation of remaining strong and influential.
The American bloc, whose power is greater than its proportional share in the controlling interest in the bank, supported Bank Hapoalim deputy general manager of international division Barry Ben-Zeev as CEO. He would have been good for their interests in Bank Hapoalim's US subsidiary, Signature Bank. Ben-Zeev is not a member of Bank Hapoalim's executive board, only a candidate for membership. Presumably, the backing for him was intended to strengthen his promotion to the bank's executive board, which is responsible for Signature Bank. No change in his standing occurred in the current round of appointments.
Bank Hapoalim chairman Shlomo Nehama chose Ziv long ago. It took him four months to arrange the appointment, until everyone was convinced that Ziv was the best possible choice. Nehama's greatness is his temperament. He is not a contentious man. From his first day as a young engineer working for the late Ted Arison, he learned to deal with owners with pleasantness and a deep understanding of their interests. This holds for his relations with Shari Arison, Dan Dankner, the US bloc, Shari's brother, Micky Arison, who is also a party at interest in Arison Holdings.
Nehama needed time to work out a relationship with all the interested parties, overcome his opponents, and make allies. Within the bank, he had to more-or-less satisfy Talmon, who wanted to be the next CEO very much. Talmon was appointed acting CEO.
Nehama wanted everyone to want Zvi Ziv. He made sure that Shari Arison would cover his back. It was in both their interests.
Shari Arison is also a winner. She exposed herself to the Israeli public in a well-publicized meeting with Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman MK Amir Perez over the matter of the bank's lay-offs, and went from that to Essence of Life NGO peace group, and to personal exposure that exacts a high price in the kind of publicity she receives, at the height of which she make major business decisions. She has shown herself to be proof against it all, a businesswoman who places business before pleasure.
The third winner is Zvi Ziv. He is 53 and has spent his entire professional life rising through the ranks at Bank Hapoalim. He didn’t get the CEO post because he was in a top civil service job, or thanks to personal connections. Slowly but surely came the reward for his toil. That is the strongest statement that Bank Hapoalim's owners can make to their employees: Make the effort and you'll get there.
Ziv served in every area in banking and survived stormy, difficult periods under the late Yaakov Levinson, Giora Gazit, and Amiram Sivan. He survived the Histadrut crisis, and the bank's sale and privatization.
He is called "The Swiss" at the bank. He is a banker's banker, straight out of the books: conservative, meticulous, smooth. He knows how to conduct himself, when to be stubborn, and when to bend.
He knows how to live in peace with his superiors, peers, and subordinates. Bank Hapoalim has not had such a manager for a long time.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on August 12, 2003