Banks make minimal fee reductions

The reductions were made at the order of the Bank of Israel, on the basis of the interim report by the Zaken Committee.

26 February 13 19:06, Irit Avissar

Israel's five big banks today published their new fees for the buying and selling of securities. The reductions were made at the order of the Bank of Israel, on the basis of the interim report by the Zaken Committee, chaired by Supervisor of Banks David Zaken. The committee found only a casual link between the banks' listed fees and the actual fees.

An examination by "Globes" found that Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) made the biggest reduction, while the reductions by the other banks were negligible. Discount Bank cut its fee for the buying and selling of Israeli securities from 0.69% to 0.54%, and it cut the fee for the buying and selling of foreign securities by almost 30% to 0.79%. Before the reduction, Discount Bank had the highest fees; it now has the lowest fees.

Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) and Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) cut their fee for the buying and selling of foreign securities by 0.1% to 0.9%, and First International Bank of Israel (TASE: FTIN) cut its fee by 0.05% to 0.85%, keeping its fee lower than at the two big banks. Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) cut its fee by 0.11%.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 26, 2013

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