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Bank of Israel May Let Lenders Reinstate Dividends This Year
Bloomberg 2/15/2021 Ivan Levingston
(Bloomberg) Israeli lenders may be allowed to pay dividends and buy back shares again by the second half of this year, depending on progress in containing the coronavirus outbreak and rallying the economy, the country’s top bank regulator said. Banking stocks jumped the most in more than a month.
At the start of the pandemic last March, the Bank of Israel cut regulatory capital requirements for lenders while urging them to re-examine dividend and share buyback policies. Yair Avidan said cases for reinstating dividends would be examined individually and entail a return to tighter regulatory capital requirements.
Israel Heads to Fourth Vote in Two Years Over Budget Crisis Bloomberg 12/23/2020 Amy Teibel and Ivan Levingston
(Bloomberg) Israel’s brittle governing coalition collapsed after just seven months, sending the election-fatigued country to its fourth vote in two years.
The campaign will feature a new challenger who might win enough support to dethrone the long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, polls suggest. The ballot is to take place on March 23 after parliament failed to approve a national budget for the second year in a row.
The grudging alliance between Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz had been formed expressly to avoid another vote after three inconclusive matchups, and to combine forces to contain the coronavirus outbreak. A fourth race, after long months of policy paralysis, will be especially bruising as the virus defies efforts to tame it, talk of a third national lockdown is percolating, and unemployment is a steep 15%.