Izzy Tapuchi, a 65 year-old businessman and accountant, has been appointed president of Israel Bonds. Tapuchi will replace Joshua Matza who has served as head of Israel Bonds for the past ten years. Tapuchi will take up his new post in the coming few weeks.
Although Tapuchi's appointment is not controversial in itself, it ends a saga which has lasted almost a year.
Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz first offered Tapuchi the job in March 2010. His appointment was approved by Israel Bonds in September 2010. But then Likud Minister Without Portfolio Yossi Peled was offered the position, reportedly to get him to agree to a West Bank settlement freeze. Subsequently the possibility of handing the job to Kadima was muted if that party agreed to join the government coalition headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.
Australian-born Tapuchi has served a chairman of Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL), and Bezeq Israel Telecommunications Company Ltd. (TASE:BZEQ), and has served on the board of directors of many major companies.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 2, 2011
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