Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) chairman Dan Dankner is on his way out. Representatives of the bank's controlling shareholder Arison Holdings Ltd. told Bank of Israel officials in the settlement being negotiated that Shari Arison is willing to remove Dankner from his post as part of a package deal.
Banking sources said that Arison is using Dankner as a bargaining chip in order to achieve her own goals in the negotiations. Other sources say that Dankner is a hostage.
Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer and Supervisor of Banks Rony Hizkiyahu have demanded that Shari Arison fire Dankner, and appoint a search committee for the appointment of a new CEO following the sudden resignation of former president and CEO Zvi Ziv and the announcement the same day of deputy CEO Zion Keinan as his successor.
The package deal will include understandings on all outstanding issues: the timing of Dankner's departure, his next job at Bank Hapoalim or its subsidiaries, his replacement, establishment of a search committee for the CEO to replace Ziv, the structure of the search committee and its authority, and not ruling out Keinan as a candidate.
Unofficially, and even though the Bank of Israel says that the removal of Dankner and the appointment of a new CEO are separate issues, they have been linked. The formula seems to be along the lines of "the closer the new chairman is to Shari Arison, the less likely Keinan is to become CEO."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 19, 2009
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