The Ariav committee yesterday made a presentation in Manhattan of its vision to make Tel Aviv into a global financial center to 100 top investment bankers and heads of financial institutions.
Participants included executives from Goldman Sachs Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GS), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB; XETRA; LSE: DBK), Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS; SWX: CSGN; XETRA: CSGZ), and Northern Trust Corporation (Nasdaq: NTRS).They came to hear how Israel will develop its financial sector, and how its capital market will be modernized, competitive, more open, and more attractive to local and foreign investors. The Israeli speakers included Supervisor of Banks Rony Hizkiyahu, Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Yadin Antebi, State Revenue Administration deputy director Frieda Yisraeli, and Ministry of Finance New York representative Zvi Halamish, who organized the event.
The conference was closed to the media, but some participants told "Globes" that it discussed general macro issues. Troubling specific issues, which have made the Ariav committee's work so difficult, were not on the agenda. No one talked about deposit insurance, which has become a bone of contention between the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Israel, or about an initiative to require Israel's banks to sell their holdings in the credit card companies. Talk was about Tel Aviv as a living city, exploiting Israel's attractiveness for Jewish financial professionals.
Deloitte Touche partner Vince Colvin, who is advising the Ariav committee, said that Tel Aviv was a first-rate asset for the initiative to turn Israel into a financial center. He described Tel Aviv's advantages as a living city and its city life, which he said could not be bought for money.
Colvin said that Doha could never become a global financial center. While it's possible to invest huge sums in building technology and financial infrastructures there, the United Arab Emirates' city will not attract international investors in the same way that they are drawn to New York or Shanghai, or maybe to Tel Aviv in the future.
Colvin added that because Israel is a focal point for Jews, it can attract many financial professionals, provided that measures are taken to create suitable jobs and suitable regulatory and tax environment.
Participants noted some of the hurdles in turning Israel into a global financial center, such as the lack of one address for handling foreign investors' ventures, or even English-language material that would answer their questions about regulations, taxes, and potential benefits.
One participant said, "When I come to Israel with a business venture, I don’t want to start running around from one ministry to another, arguing with bureaucrats to obtain the right document, and then have to translate it."
Israel also faces an image problem as an unsafe place, which is liable to cause potential investors to shy away. Halamish replied that if, 60 years ago, a consultancy agency had been asked whether a Jewish state was feasible, Israel would probably not have been founded.
Yesterday's conference was the second advisory conference held by the Ariav committee in New York. The first was held several months ago.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 11, 2008
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