Sources inform ''Globes'' that the controlling shareholders of Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) want Galia Maor as chairwoman of the bank, to succeed Jacob Perry, who resigned last month to go into politics.
Maor stepped down as CEO of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) in May 2012, after 17 years at the bank's helm. She was succeeded by her deputy Rakefet Russak-Aminoach. Maor is continuing to serve as chairwoman of Bank Leumi Switzerland until the end of this year, and she will have to resign this post if she accepts the position at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. Bank Leumi chairman David Brodet will have to agree to this, as well as Bank Leumi's legal adviser Dalia Tal, a very close friend of Maor.
Under Maor's retirement agreement with Bank Leumi, she took a six-month cooling-off period, which ended on November 1. She was also supposed to receive a NIS 3.25 million bonus to extend the cooling-off period for two years, but the intense public criticism of the bonus on top of the huge payments she received under her job contract, compelled her to forego the bonus.
Other possible candidates for the post of Mizrahi Tefahot Bank's chairman are former Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS) CEO Shy Talmon; Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) chairman Aharon Fogel; and former Israel Securities Authority chairman Moshe Tery.
Talmon worked under Mizrahi Tefahot Bank CEO Eli Yones at the Ministry of Finance's Accountant General's Department, and later at Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI). Fogel was the director general of the Ministry of Finance when Yones served as accountant general.
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank's controlling shareholders, the Wertheim and Ofer families, are seeking more candidates, preferably current or former top executives in the banking and finance industries. This is apparently a condition for the job set by Supervisor of Banks David Zaken in response to a recent highly critical report about Mizrahi Tefahot Bank by the Banking Supervision Department.
The report found serious administrative and corporate failures by Mizrahi Tefahot Bank's board of directors during Perry's ten-year tenure as chairman, to the point that they harmed the bank's work. Perry chose to deal with the finding by leaving the bank for politics.
Despite reports that Yones, whose consent for and willingness to work with the new chairman is very important to Mizrahi Tefahot Bank's controlling shareholders, has not objected to Maor, her aides believe that her appointment is impractical. Six months ago, during her cooling-off period, she reportedly rebuffed an unofficial approach to serve as Mizrahi Tefahot Bank's chairwoman. Her aides said that it was inconceivable the bank would have such dominant personalities as CEO and chairwoman, and that she would not enter such a minefield.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 8, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012