The state does not intend to change the bill concerning the new salary terms in the institutional financial system in order to avoid worsening the retirement benefits for the group of veteran executives, despite the increasing threats of a "risk of mass resignations," following the resignation of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) CEO Zion Kenan and the fact that a petition to the High Court of Justice is being prepared.
At the same time, it appears that at this stage, a proposal that the veteran executives resign in order to retain their current retirement benefits and be rehired immediately for the same positions appears impossible.
A pre-ruling indicates that this procedure is illegal; furthermore, these senior positions, which are mostly in banking and insurance, require fixed and regular selection procedures and a series of regulatory approvals that cannot be evaded unless approval for this is granted in advance by the Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance, and Savings and the Supervisor of Banks. These approvals do not appear possible - not at this stage, and probably not at all, even if a wave of resignations does occur.
In unofficial talks, it was made clear to representatives of the large financial institutions that this threat "won't work" for the Ministry of Finance, just as it did not work for most of the members of the Knesset Finance Committee.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 3, 2016
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