In short: Union Bank of Israel (Bank Igud) was merged into Bank Mizrahi Tefahot. Igud became a Mizrahi subsidiary on 1 October 2020, all its customers were transferred to Mizrahi by 15 November 2022, and its banking licence was returned to the Bank of Israel in January 2023. Mizrahi Tefahot’s own public-complaints reports have a separate category for complaints about the merger.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 27 Nov 2017 | Purchase agreement |
| 30 May 2018 | The acting Competition Commissioner objects to the merger |
| 2019 | The Competition Tribunal (case 745-07-18) grants the banks’ appeals |
| 1 Oct 2020 | Igud ceases to be a public company and becomes a Mizrahi Tefahot subsidiary |
| 15 Nov 2022 | Transfer of all Igud customers to Mizrahi Tefahot completed |
| Jan 2023 | Igud’s banking licence returned to the Bank of Israel |
What the bank itself reported about complaints
- 2022: Mizrahi Tefahot’s public-complaints report has a category “Other (Igud merger)” with 615 complaints, 14.22% of all inquiries. In the same period Bank Igud itself received 468 complaints and 532 further requests.
- 2023: “Other (including the Igud merger)”: 540 complaints, 11% of inquiries.
- The bank’s CEO, Moshe Lari, told Calcalist: “there were failures, but not a critical mass”. He said moving 160,000 customers took two years and that 15% of customers left for another bank.
- TheMarker reported on 17 Nov 2021: “Igud customers got lost: no access to the account or the money, and the bank does not answer”.
What passed to Mizrahi with the merger
According to Mizrahi Tefahot’s website, Igud’s subsidiaries in leasing, investments and development passed to the bank, including Igud Leasing Ltd., now called Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing.
Rulings in which Bank Igud was a party
- Civil case 14643-04-18 Israminers v. Bank Igud: in 2019 the Tel Aviv District Court set aside Igud’s decision to close the account of a Bitcoin mining company.
- LCA 8674/19 Shefagat: in 2021 the Supreme Court ordered Bank Igud to disclose “know your customer” questionnaires and Mizrahi Tefahot to disclose “small business” classification data, with costs.
Why this matters to former Igud customers
In a merger, the target company’s liabilities, including unknown ones, pass to the absorbing company. A former Igud customer with a claim about the pre-merger period or the transfer itself turns today to Mizrahi Tefahot. Keep every letter, notice and confirmation from the transfer period. The legal definition of “merger” is in section 1 of the Companies Law, 1999.