Yair Kaplan has been appointed CEO Bank of Jerusalem. The bank’s board of directors approved the appointment today (Thursday) and Kaplan will replace it Gil Topz Who announced his desire to end the role earlier this year. The appointment is subject to the approval of the Bank of Israel.
Kaplan has over 25 years of senior management experience in the financial, banking and non-banking sectors – in a wide range of positions in the worlds of business and consumer credit, managing payment systems, real estate financing and investments. As a public relations officer at Harel Pension and Provident, as well as the position of Chairman, Director and member of the Investment Committee in leading credit funds and financial entities.
In his previous position, Kaplan served as senior vice president and chief investment officer of Hachshara Insurance, where he, among other things, developed the field of alternative investments and established the company’s construction loan system and sales guarantees. Prior to that, Yair served as CEO of Paz Real Estate. And Engineering, as Senior Vice President and Head of Business and Credit at ICC, as CEO of Clal Credit Financing and Credit Manager of the Clal Insurance Group, Vice President of the Business Division at Citibank Israel and Head of Staff and Deputy Licensing Supervisor at the Bank of Israel.
Recently, as one of the last actions of the previous CEO, the Bank of Jerusalem signed a deal to establish a subsidiary that is a subsidiary corporation together with the Phoenix Insurance Company. Collaborations and acquisition of portfolios As part of the strategic move, 95% of the existing consumer credit portfolio at the Bank of Jerusalem will be transferred to the subsidiary, and in addition, the possibility of transferring the bank’s mortgage portfolios to it is being examined.
The Bank of Jerusalem will allocate to the Phoenix Insurance Company 20% of the subsidiary’s shares in exchange for a capital injection into it. The consumer credit portfolio is expected to grow and may also diversify into car credit, points of sale and other segments at lower risk.
According to the Bank of Jerusalem’s estimates, the bank’s capital base will increase by NIS 70 million from the capital that will flow into the company, of which NIS 32 million is part of the minority. In other words, a premium of NIS 38 million will be registered in the bank. The additional capital will be used to realize credit growth opportunities. The increase in capital from an external source will enable the Bank to divert capital and resources from future profitability for the further development of the Bank’s business lines, existing or new, thus further diversifying the Bank’s business.