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Despite a crises in mortgage banks in both the USA and UK, Israel’s top banks revealed substantial profits for the year 2007. Leading the top three was Bank Leumi with a gross profit of N.S. 3.5 Billion. This was followed by Bank Hapoalim with N.S. 2.25 Billion, and Israel Discount Bank with 1.26 Billion.

Spokespersons for the banks did say, however, that their profits were affected somewhat by what has been happening in financial markets abroad, especially in the U.S.A. The severe mortgage and real estate crises in America has not yet had major implications in Israel, by many observers fear that the “ripples” created overseas could eventually find their way to the Israel mortgage and housing markets in Israel which are still fairly strong, due to continued sales of new apartments to purchasers in the U.K and Europe, especially France.

The bank profits were also evident in the salaries paid to top bank executives. CEO’s Galia Maor of Bank Leumi and Zvi Ziv of Bank Hapoalim reportedly received N.S. 9 Million each in 2007, while Giora Ofer of the Discount Bank received a whopping N.S. 17.5 million; nearly as much as the other two combined.

Banks in Israel have enjoyed large profits for some time, mainly due to the high fees and commissions they receive on all types of transactions, including payments of various debits by customers, commissions on stock market transactions, high interest rates on overdrafts and other short term debt, and even fees for counting large sums of money (banknotes) deposited into customer’s own accounts. These fees and commissions are some of the highest in the world, and are much higher than those charged by banks in the U.S.A. This is especially true in regards to foreign currency transactions. Perhaps this is why many bank executives receive such high salaries, as noted above. Due to the current mortgage bank crises in the USA, however, Bank Hapoalim’s overall profits were 20% less than in 2006. Bank Discount’s profits actually increased by 51%, which may explain the high salaries paid to Ofer and other high ranking Bank officials.

In another financial related matter, Lev Leviev, head of African Israel Development Company and LLD Diamonds, said that in his opinion, the Israeli economy is heading towards a recession. Perhaps this statement, by one of the country’s richest men, came in the wake of his losing 336 million Shekels (nearly $100 million dollars) in recent stock market falls. Despite this slight reversal, Leviev is said to have made more than 4 Billion Shekels in the year 2007.