Bank Hapoalim: Israel's Largest Bank
Israel's largest bank. Founded 1921 by the Histadrut. FY2025 record net profit NIS 9.8B (+30%), ROE 15.9%. CEO Yadin Antebi (since 2024). Arison family control 1996-2019; now dispersed. TASE: POLI. ~200 branches, 2.5M households. $874M US tax settlement (2020).
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, Hapoalim now trades as a dispersed-shareholder public bank following Shari Arison's 2018–2019 sale of the controlling stake to a Brookfield-Israel-led consortium.
Company Snapshot
- Legal entity: Bank Hapoalim B.M.
- Founded: 1921, by the Histadrut labor federation
- Ticker: TASE: POLI; Frankfurt: HPBA
- Headquarters: Tel Aviv, Israel
- FY2025 net profit: NIS 9.8 billion (record, +30%)
- FY2025 ROE: 15.9%
- Credit to the public: NIS 502.9 billion (end 2025)
- Employees: approximately 8,500
- Branch network: approximately 200 branches
- Retail customers: approximately 2.5 million households
- Historical control: Arison family, 1996–2019
- Current control: Dispersed public float
- CEO: Yadin Antebi (since 2024, succeeding Dov Kotler)
- Chairman: Reuven Krupik
- Dividend: NIS 4.9 billion in 2025 (50% of net profit); 4.6% yield
- 2026-2027 targets: NIS 9-10B annual profit, 14-15% ROE, 8-9% loan growth
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.
The Arison Era, 1996–2019
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. Ted Arison — the Israeli-American businessman who founded Carnival Cruise Lines — acquired the controlling stake. Ted Arison died in 1999. Control transferred to his daughter Shari Arison through the Arison Group. The Arison family stewardship ran for 23 years across two generations — one of the longest controlling-shareholder positions in modern Israeli banking.
The 2019 Brookfield-Led Exit
In 2018–2019, Shari Arison sold the controlling position to a consortium led by Brookfield Asset Management and Israeli institutional partners. The transaction ended 23 years of Arison family control and restructured ownership into a dispersed public float. The Arison Group's strategic monetization preserved capital for the family's continued industrial holdings (Shikun & Binui, Salt of the Earth).
Commercial Position
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 — ~2.5 million households across current accounts, credit cards, mortgages, consumer lending
- Corporate and commercial banking — the largest Israeli corporate credit book
- Capital markets — 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
FY2025 Financial Performance
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.
The 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.
The Israeli Banking Duopoly
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 (~$10 billion). See: The Banking Oligopoly.
Why Bank Hapoalim Matters
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.
FAQ
Who founded Bank Hapoalim?
The Histadrut labor federation in 1921. "Hapoalim" means "The Workers."
Did the Arison family own Bank Hapoalim?
Yes. Ted Arison acquired control in 1996. Shari Arison inherited in 1999. The family sold to a Brookfield-led consortium in 2018-2019 after 23 years.
Is Bank Hapoalim the largest Israeli bank?
Yes, by total assets. Bank Leumi is a close second.
How profitable is Bank Hapoalim?
FY2025: NIS 9.8 billion net profit (record, +30%), 15.9% ROE.
Who runs Bank Hapoalim?
CEO Yadin Antebi (since 2024, succeeding Dov Kotler). Chairman Reuven Krupik.
Olam coverage
See: Bank Leumi · Israel Discount Bank · Mizrahi Tefahot · The Banking Oligopoly · Israeli Banks Citation Share Index 2026 · Shari Arison
Updated August 2026. FY2025 data from Bank Hapoalim annual report (TASE: POLI).
