Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 07:32, 3 September 2014

Israel-British Bank was a bank founded on 21 October 1929 by Polish Jewish immigrants to Mandate Palestine as Immigrants Bank Palestine-Poland. The bank changed its name to Bank Haolim Erez-Israel-Polania on 20 April 1937 and on 6 April 1945 to Palestine-British Bank. By 1961 it had branches in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Nathanya, Jaffa, and London. On 1 August 1965 it became the Israeli-British Bank. On 1 October 1968 the London branch became a newly formed subsidiary under the title of Israel-British Bank (London).

Nahum Zeev Williams purchased it in 1938 and on his death the bank passed into the hands of a group headed by his family, associated with the Mizrachi movement.

In July 1974 the bank collapsed, owing British investors £46.6 million. Yehoshua Ben-Zion, the managing director of Israel-British Bank was convicted of embezzling £20 million ($39.4 million) from the bank. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. After urging of the Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in 1977, Ben-Zion was pardoned by the Israeli president Ephraim Katzir, on medical grounds. He was released after serving three years.

References

1. Sedan, Gil. Bank scandal hits Israel. 11 July 1974.
2. Langer, Felicia (1974) With my own eyes. Israel and the Occupied Territories 1967-1973. Ithaca Press. ISBN 0-903729-10-5. Page 126.
3. Israel Yearbook on Human Rights 1979, Volume 9; Volume 1979 By Yoram Dinstein, p. 2011
4. Justice in Israel: a study of the Israeli judiciary, p. 241

This bank and insurance-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Bank stubs
• Banking in Israel
• Defunct banks of the United Kingdom
• Banks established in 1929
• 2006 disestablishments in Israel
• Banks disestablished in 2006