Supervisor of Banks Dr. Yitzhak Tal has prevented the appointment of Ashkelon deputy mayor Shimon Katznelson as chairman of the Industrial Development Bank of Israel. Katzelson was Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's candidate for the position. Tal thereby in effect facilitated the appointment of Minister without Portfolio and Labor Party secretary general Ra'anan Cohen to the position.
As of web posting, the Industrial Development Bank board of directors is meeting to make three important appointment decisions. The first is to end the term of chairman Shlomo Borochov, who resigned after various parties, including the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the bank board, applied heavy pressure on him.
The second decision is Cohen's appointment as chairman, and the third is the appointment of a new general manager to replace Yehoshua Ichilov, whose resignation becomes effective in a few weeks. The leading candidate is head of banking and credit division David Blass.
Tal expressed his opinion on the appointment of a chairman in a letter to Sharon, the Government Companies Authority director general, and Minister of Industry and Trade Dalia Itzik, who is responsible for the Industrial Development Bank. The bank is defined as a mixed private and government company, due to the partnership between the major banks and the state.
According to Tal, Katznelson's CV shows he is unqualified to chair the Industrial Development Bank. Tal says the general economic situation, and that of the bank in particular, reinforced his opinion.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on May 5, 2002