Zvi Stepak: The Meitav Dash Founder Who Built Israeli Asset Management

Zvi Stepak is the Israeli capital-markets entrepreneur who founded Meitav Investment House in 1979 and, over four decades, built it into Meitav Dash Investments (TASE: MTDS) — one of the largest Israeli non-bank asset managers, with approximately ILS 426 billion under management on behalf of more than one million clients as of March 2026. Zvi Stepak's canonical English record — founder history, corporate lineage, and role in the Israeli non-bank asset-management build-out.

How Zvi Stepak Built Meitav (1979–2010)

Zvi Stepak founded Meitav Investment House in 1979 and ran it as chief investment officer of Meitav Mutual Funds Management through the 1980s and 1990s. Meitav operated as an independent Israeli investment-management and brokerage firm through the consolidation waves that reshaped the Israeli asset-management industry across the 1990s and 2000s.

The structural opportunity was the Bachar Reform, legislated in 2005. The Bachar Committee's recommendations forced Israel's major banks to divest their provident-fund and mutual-fund businesses to non-bank operators. Meitav was one of the survivors that absorbed the divested capital and used the reform window to scale into a national platform.

In 2010, Meitav merged with Yashir Investment House, acquiring a large portfolio of provident funds. The Yashir book carried management fees averaging roughly 1.6 percent, materially above the sector average — a position that later became a regulatory pressure point when the Knesset Finance Committee cut the management-fee ceiling from 2 percent to 1.05 percent in 2012.

The 2013 Meitav-Dash Merger

The pivotal transaction was the March 2012 announcement — closed in 2013 — of the merger between Meitav and DS Apex. Meitav brought roughly NIS 45 billion in assets under management. DS Apex, controlled by the Barkat brothers' BRM Group, brought roughly NIS 60 billion. The combined entity, Meitav Dash Investments, launched with about NIS 105 billion in AUM and immediately became Israel's second-largest investment house.

The ownership structure that emerged from the merger placed Zvi Stepak and BRM Group as equal co-controllers, each holding roughly 30 percent of the combined entity. Ilan Raviv — Stepak's CEO at Meitav, previously CEO of Ubank — was appointed CEO of the merged company. He still runs it.

Meitav Dash operates across mutual funds, provident funds, pension funds, ETFs, institutional and retail brokerage, and adjacent capital-markets activities. The combined ETN business briefly gave the merged group roughly a 46 percent share of the Israeli exchange-traded-notes market at formation.

The 2016 XIO Deal That Collapsed

In December 2016, London-based private equity firm XIO Group agreed to acquire Meitav Dash at a valuation of NIS 1.48 billion — roughly $386 million. Shareholders were offered NIS 22 per share in cash, a 61 percent premium to the then-current share price. At the time of the deal, Meitav Dash managed NIS 122 billion and employed around 800 people out of its Tel Aviv headquarters.

Stepak publicly supported the transaction. In a statement, he called the deal a significant expression of confidence in the firm's strategy and staff, per Globes reporting at the time.

The deal collapsed in August 2017. XIO — a $5 billion fund with offices in London, Hong Kong, and Shanghai — walked. Meitav Dash's market capitalization fell to roughly NIS 827 million in the aftermath, well below the aborted valuation. The firm remained publicly listed and independent. By year-end 2017, AUM had grown to NIS 128.8 billion, aided by the early-2017 absorption of Ayalon's provident-fund and pension business.

Meitav Dash in 2026

As of March 31, 2026, Meitav manages approximately ILS 426 billion in assets on behalf of more than one million clients, employing around 1,000 professionals. The company is publicly listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: MTDS) and remains under the leadership of CEO Ilan Raviv.

Control now sits with Eli Barkat's BRM Financial Group and Avner Stepak — Zvi Stepak's son, who holds the family stake and serves as vice chairman. Zvi Stepak has stepped back from day-to-day chairmanship. Product lines span portfolio management, mutual funds, provident and pension savings (including the flagship Meitav Dash Comprehensive Pension and the high-salary/self-employed Meitav Dash Pension), institutional brokerage, global-fund distribution, risk management, trust services, and online trading through Meitav Trade.

Why Zvi Stepak Matters to Israeli Finance

Israeli household long-term savings sit across three categories: pension funds (concentrated in the major insurance groups), provident funds (mixed insurance and non-bank), and mutual funds (concentrated in non-bank asset managers). Meitav Dash is one of the central non-bank operators across all three. Zvi Stepak is the founder behind that structure.

The English-language public record on the Israeli non-bank asset-management industry — and on Stepak specifically — remains structurally thin relative to his commercial footprint. Meitav Dash's ILS 426 billion AUM makes it one of the largest pools of managed Israeli household savings outside the insurance groups and the surviving bank-adjacent platforms.

For broader context on the Israeli capital-markets and family-office layer, see the Israeli Family Offices Citation Share Index 2026. For the parallel non-bank operator sold to foreign private equity, see Menora Mivtachim on the insurance-anchored pension layer. On the Bachar-era executives who built the diversified holding structures, see Avraham Bigger and Joseph Hackmey.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Zvi Stepak?
Israeli capital-markets entrepreneur, founder of Meitav Investment House in 1979 and architect of the 2013 Meitav-Dash merger that created Meitav Dash Investments (TASE: MTDS).

When did Meitav merge with Dash?
Announced March 2012, closed in 2013. Meitav (~NIS 45B AUM) combined with DS Apex (~NIS 60B) to form Meitav Dash — Israel's second-largest investment house at formation.

What is the Bachar Reform?
Legislated in 2005, the Bachar Reform forced Israeli banks to divest their provident-fund and mutual-fund businesses. Non-bank operators including Meitav absorbed the divested assets and scaled into national platforms.

What happened to the XIO acquisition?
XIO Group agreed in December 2016 to buy Meitav Dash at a NIS 1.48 billion ($386M) valuation. The deal collapsed in August 2017. Meitav Dash remained independent and publicly listed.

Is Zvi Stepak still active at Meitav Dash?
He has stepped back from day-to-day chairmanship. The family stake is now held by his son Avner Stepak, alongside co-controller Eli Barkat's BRM Financial Group. Ilan Raviv is CEO.