The Banking Supervision Department at the Bank of Israel today published a revision to Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 432 “Transferring activity and closing a customer’s account”, which aims to enable customers to submit online requests to transfer securities portfolios.
Supervisor of Banks Dr. Hedva Ber said, “The Banking Supervision Department supports the provision of convenient online service to the customer with the aim of improving service and increasing competition in the economy. As such, we have instructed the banks to enable all customers to submit securities portfolio transfer requests via the bank’s website, without having to come to the branch in order to do so.”
The Banking Supervision Department today published a draft under which the banks are required to enable customers to submit requests to transfer their securities portfolios to any other financial entity, at least through the bank’s website, without making it necessary for the customer to come to the branch.
The revision is intended to improve service and make it easier for the customer, and to remove barriers and encourage competition in the brokerage market. In the current situation, the interaction required between the customer and the service provider in requesting to transfer the portfolio may make the transfer process difficult. The new mechanism, which is being implemented due mostly to a recommendation made in the brokerage report published by the Israel Securities Authority and the Competition Authority, is intended to make it easier for customers to transfer their securities activity between financial entities.