Israel's digital bank to begin operating in 2021

Marius Nacht Amnon Shashua Hedva Ber and Amir Yaron

Israeli observability co groundcover raises $35m

The new bank has already recruited most of its executive staff.

A few months after the Bank of Israel approved the founding of a digital bank controlled by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) cofounder Marius Nacht and OrCam founder and Mobileye cofounder, president, and CEO Amnon Shashua, the new bank announced that it had signed a "strategic agreement with computer giant Tata and finished recruitment of its management team." The bank is on the road to raising capital from sources other than its founders. It is also committing itself for the first time to a date for commencing services to the general public at least 18 months from now, "in the second half of 2021."

Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Amir Yaron and Supervisor of Banks Dr. Hedva Ber gave the green light for Nacht and Shashua's bank last September. The digital bank will be the first new independent bank to receive regulatory approval in Israel in 41 years. The Bank of Israel predicted that the new bank would begin providing financial services to the general public in 2021.

The new bank stated, "The bank's initial equity, as approved by the Bank of Israel, will be $120 million (NIS 415 million), which Nacht and Shashua invested in equal shares as controlling shareholders. More equity will be raised in the near future from private investors in Israel and overseas."

The new bank revealed that it would continue forming its senior management team, and that it "expects to hire dozens more employees by the end of the year." Up until now, it was known that the bank's CEO would be Gal Bar Dea, one of the founders of Bank Leumi's Pepper, and the chairman would be former Accountant General, former Bank Leumi Switzerland CEO, and former Kardan NV CEO Shouky Oren.

The new bank's CFO and risk management officer is Netta Avrahamov Bitan, until recently a partner and head of the banking, risk management, and regulation division at PwC, and earlier an executive at Union Bank. She will be joined by former Pepper VP banking and services Arik Chicotay, who will be VP banking at the new bank. VP marketing, sales, and business development at the new bank will be former Bank Hapoalim retail sales and customer service division head and former Shufersal marketing and merchandising division chief of staff Roy Katzir. Other managers at the new bank will be chief people officer Dana Matalon Goren and VP information systems Gil Rashman, who also worked at Pepper.

According to the business plan presented by the entrepreneurs to the Bank of Israel Banking Supervision Department, they intend to establish a digital bank with no branches, and to focus on banking services for households, including providing credit, accepting deposits, managing current accounts, and providing buying and selling services for securities.