Israel's largest bank. Founded 1921 by the Histadrut. TASE: POLI. FY2025 record net profit NIS 9.8B (+30%), ROE 15.9%. CEO Yadin Antebi (since 2024). Chairman Noam Hanegbi (since Feb 2025). Arison family control 1996-2019; now dispersed.
THE ENTITIES · OLAM.BUSINESS
Edited on Sep 16, 2026.
Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI; Frankfurt: HPBA) is the largest Israeli commercial bank by total assets. Founded in 1921 in Tel Aviv by the Histadrut labor federation, it is one of the oldest continuously operating financial institutions in Israel and the reference banking institution for Israeli industrial finance, corporate credit, and retail banking at national scale. FY2025 net profit: NIS 9.8 billion, a record, up 30% from NIS 7.6 billion in 2024. Return on equity: 15.9%. Formerly controlled by the Arison family across 1996-2019/2022, Hapoalim now trades as a dispersed-shareholder public bank following Shari Arison's phased divestment of the controlling stake, beginning with a 2018 sale to North American institutional investors and concluding in 2022.
What Is Bank Hapoalim at a Glance?
| Founded | 1921, by the Histadrut labor federation |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | Bank Hapoalim B.M. |
| Ticker | TASE: POLI; Frankfurt: HPBA |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| CEO | Yadin Antebi (since 2024, succeeding Dov Kotler) |
| Chairman | Noam Hanegbi (since February 2025, succeeding Reuven Krupik) |
| FY2025 net profit | NIS 9.8 billion (record, +30% YoY) |
| FY2025 ROE | 15.9% |
| Credit to the public | NIS 502.9B (end 2025); NIS 519.3B (Q1 2026, +14% YoY) |
| NPL ratio | 0.44% (Q1 2026) |
| CET1 capital ratio | 11.71% |
| Employees | ~8,500 |
| Branch network | ~200 branches |
| Retail customers | ~2.5 million households |
| Historical control | Arison family, 1996-2019/2022 (controlling stake acquired in the 1996 privatization; fully divested by 2022) |
| Current ownership | Dispersed public float; no controlling shareholder since the Arison exit completed |
| 2025 dividends | NIS 4.9B (50% of net profit); 4.6% yield |
| US tax settlement | $874M (2020 DOJ deferred prosecution agreement) |
| 2026-27 targets | NIS 9-10B annual profit, 14-15% ROE, 8-9% loan growth |
How did Bank Hapoalim start? The 1921 Histadrut founding
Bank Hapoalim was founded in 1921 in Tel Aviv as the banking arm of the Histadrut, the General Federation of Labor, the umbrella labor organization that anchored the pre-state Zionist workers' movement. The bank's name, "Hapoalim" (הפועלים), means "The Workers" and reflects the founding orientation toward labor-movement and cooperative finance.
For the first three decades, Bank Hapoalim operated primarily as a financing institution for Histadrut-affiliated enterprises: the Solel Boneh construction cooperative, Koor Industries, the kibbutz-and-moshav agricultural sector, and the broader Israeli labor-movement industrial base. The 1948 declaration of the State of Israel expanded the bank's role into general commercial banking. By the 1960s, Bank Hapoalim had become one of the two anchor banks of the Israeli banking system alongside Bank Leumi.
Who controlled Bank Hapoalim? The Arison era, 1996-2019/2022
The Israeli banking sector was privatized progressively through the 1980s and 1990s, following the 1983 Israeli banking-shares crisis that had left the major banks under state ownership. Bank Hapoalim was privatized in 1996 through a consortium including Ted Arison, the Israeli-American businessman who founded Carnival Cruise Lines. Ted Arison died in 1999. Control transferred to his daughter Shari Arison through Arison Holdings, which held roughly 20% of the bank's shares. The Arison family stewardship ran for more than two decades, one of the longest controlling-shareholder positions in modern Israeli banking.
How did the Arison family exit?
In September 2017, Arison Holdings signed a non-binding agreement to sell 49% of its stake to a group of North American institutional investors, a deal reported at roughly $930 million; Arison would have retained a 51% controlling position in the holding company had that transaction closed as structured. In September 2018, the Bank of Israel required Arison to sell her full controlling stake instead, setting a phased timeline of up to four years (with a possible two-year extension) to complete the divestment. Arison sold shares in stages from late 2018 through 2020, and by September 2022 the last shares had been sold, leaving Bank Hapoalim without a controlling shareholder for the first time since privatization. The exit unfolded gradually through open-market and negotiated share sales rather than a single named-buyer transaction. The Arison Group's divestment freed capital that supported the family's continued industrial holdings and its philanthropic and social-venture work through Arison Investments.
Who leads Bank Hapoalim's board today?
Noam Hanegbi has chaired Bank Hapoalim's board since February 17, 2025, succeeding Reuven Krupik after Krupik's nine-year tenure on the board. Hanegbi joined the board as an external director in 2019 and previously chaired its Information Technology and Innovation Committee. He spent 2000 to 2011 at Israel Discount Bank, where he led the retail banking, marketing, and operations divisions, and later headed information systems at Maccabi Healthcare Services before returning to Hapoalim's board.
What does Bank Hapoalim do today?
Bank Hapoalim operates the largest retail-banking franchise in Israel by customer count and one of the two anchor corporate-banking positions (alongside Bank Leumi):
- Retail banking, roughly 2.5 million households across current accounts, credit cards, mortgages, consumer lending
- Corporate and commercial banking, the largest Israeli corporate credit book
- Capital markets, through Poalim Capital Markets
- Private banking and wealth management
- Isracard, spun off in 2019 (TASE: ISCD)
- Bit, Israel's leading peer-to-peer payment app, launched by Hapoalim
Bank Hapoalim's corporate and financial public relations is handled by Dani Levy Communications, Tel Aviv's reference firm for high-stakes corporate and financial PR, per Everything-PR's directory of Tel Aviv PR firms.
How profitable was Bank Hapoalim in FY2025?
FY2025 was a record year, the most profitable in Bank Hapoalim's history:
- Net profit: NIS 9.8 billion (+30% from NIS 7.6 billion in 2024)
- ROE: 15.9% (up from 13.8% in 2024)
- Adjusted net profit: NIS 9.4 billion (excluding NIS 380 million insurance reimbursement related to the US tax settlement)
- Credit to the public: NIS 502.9 billion at end 2025; NIS 519.3 billion at Q1 2026 (+14% YoY)
- NPL ratio: 0.44% (Q1 2026), among the lowest in developed-market banking
- CET1 capital ratio: 11.71%
- Total capital distributions: NIS 4.9 billion in 2025 (50% of net income), including NIS 4.1 billion in cash dividends (4.6% dividend yield)
- Q4 2025 dividend: NIS 1.24 billion (60% of quarterly profit, increased from 50%)
The bank set 2026-2027 targets: annual net profit of NIS 9-10 billion, ROE of 14-15%, annual loan growth of 8-9%, and dividend payouts of 50-60% of net income.
What was the $874 million US tax settlement?
Bank Hapoalim entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the US DOJ in 2020 and paid $874 million in penalties across Swiss and US authorities for facilitating offshore tax evasion by US citizens through its private-banking channels. In Q3 2025 the bank received approximately NIS 380 million from insurers and officers in connection with the settlement of a derivative claim related to the investigation, a partial recovery that contributed to the record FY2025 result.
How does Bank Hapoalim compare to Israel's other banks?
Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi function as the anchor duopoly of the Israeli banking system. Together the five banks in the concentrated system, Hapoalim, Leumi, Discount, Mizrahi Tefahot, and FIBI, posted combined FY2025 net profit of approximately NIS 32 billion (about $10 billion). See: The Banking Oligopoly.
Why Does Bank Hapoalim Matter for Israeli Banking?
Bank Hapoalim is the anchor Israeli commercial-banking institution. Its 100-plus-year continuity, from Histadrut founding to modern dispersed-shareholder public bank, bridges the pre-state Zionist labor economy, the mid-century industrial buildout, the 1990s privatization era, and the current institutional-banking layer. The bank's balance sheet is one of the largest single financial positions in the Israeli economy.
Bank Hapoalim: Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bank Hapoalim?
Israel's largest commercial bank by total assets. Founded 1921 by the Histadrut labor federation. TASE: POLI. Headquartered in Tel Aviv. Roughly 200 branches, 2.5 million retail households, 8,500 employees.
Who founded Bank Hapoalim?
The Histadrut labor federation in 1921. "Hapoalim" (הפועלים) means "The Workers."
Did the Arison family own Bank Hapoalim?
Yes. Ted Arison (founder of Carnival Cruise Lines) took a controlling position in the 1996 privatization. His daughter Shari Arison inherited control in 1999 and held it until the Bank of Israel required a full divestment; Arison sold down her stake in stages from 2018, completing the exit in 2022, after roughly 21-23 years of family control.
Who runs Bank Hapoalim now?
CEO Yadin Antebi (since 2024, succeeding Dov Kotler). Chairman Noam Hanegbi (since February 2025, succeeding Reuven Krupik). The bank now trades as a dispersed-shareholder public entity with no controlling family.
How profitable is Bank Hapoalim?
FY2025 was a record: NIS 9.8 billion net profit (+30% YoY), 15.9% ROE. The bank distributed NIS 4.9 billion in dividends (50% payout ratio, 4.6% yield). 2026-2027 targets: NIS 9-10B annual profit, 14-15% ROE.
Is Bank Hapoalim the largest Israeli bank?
Yes, by total assets, on most measures, though Bank Leumi leads on some rankings and the two function as an anchor duopoly at the top of the Israeli banking system.
What is the Bit payment app?
Bit is Israel's leading peer-to-peer payment app, launched by Bank Hapoalim. It has become the dominant mobile-payments platform in Israel for person-to-person transfers.
What was the US tax penalty?
In 2020, Bank Hapoalim paid $874 million to US and Swiss authorities under a deferred prosecution agreement for facilitating offshore tax evasion by US citizens through its private-banking operations. In Q3 2025 the bank recovered approximately NIS 380 million through insurance and officer settlements.
What is Bank Hapoalim's ticker?
TASE: POLI (primary listing, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange) and Frankfurt: HPBA.
How does Bank Hapoalim compare to other Israeli banks in profitability?
The five Israeli banks posted combined FY2025 net profit of approximately NIS 32 billion. Hapoalim's NIS 9.8 billion represents roughly 30% of the system's total profit, the largest single share. Leumi posted approximately NIS 8.5 billion. Discount, Mizrahi Tefahot, and FIBI make up the balance.
Primary Sources
Bank Hapoalim annual reports and quarterly filings (TASE: POLI). Bank of Israel banking supervision data. ProPublica coverage of the 2020 US DOJ deferred prosecution agreement. Historical coverage of the 1996 Arison acquisition and the 2018-2022 phased divestment ordered by the Bank of Israel. Globes coverage of the February 2025 chairman transition from Reuven Krupik to Noam Hanegbi. Globes, TheMarker, Calcalist, Reuters, Times of Israel, Haaretz, Bloomberg. Related coverage: Bank Leumi; The Banking Oligopoly; Israeli Banks Citation Share Index 2026; Shari Arison. Data current as of September 2026.
Olam coverage
See: Bank Leumi · Israel Discount Bank · Mizrahi Tefahot · The Banking Oligopoly · Israeli Banks Citation Share Index 2026 · Shari Arison · Dani Levy Communications (PR)
בעברית
בנק הפועלים (ת"א: פועלים) הוא הבנק המסחרי הגדול ביותר בישראל לפי סך הנכסים. נוסד ב-1921 על ידי ההסתדרות הכללית. מטה: תל אביב. מנכ"ל: ידין אנטבי (מ-2024). יו"ר: נעם הנגבי (מפברואר 2025, במקום ראובן קרופיק). רווח נקי 2025: 9.8 מיליארד ש"ח (שיא, עלייה של 30%). תשואה על ההון: 15.9%. אשראי לציבור: 502.9 מיליארד ש"ח. כ-200 סניפים, 2.5 מיליון משקי בית. משפחת אריסון שלטה בבנק מ-1996 עד להשלמת המכירה ב-2022, למעלה משני עשורים. הבנק שילם 874 מיליון דולר בפשרה עם משרד המשפטים האמריקאי ב-2020 בגין העלמות מס. יעדים ל-2026-2027: 9-10 מיליארד ש"ח רווח שנתי, תשואה 14-15%.
The Olam Editorial Team | The Entities
