Additional Adjustments to Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directives for Dealing with the Coronavirus (Temporary Provision)
The Bank of Israel extended the applicability of temporary coronavirus-related banking directives for an additional six months, setting the general end date to March 31, 2021. This extension explicitly excludes Sections 10a-10b, 13d, and 14a-14d, which retain their original expiration date of September 30, 2020. Additionally, the regulator amended the Customer Complaints Directive to clarify that specific leniencies apply only in very anomalous circumstances such as general lockdowns.
Bank of Israel
Banking Supervision Department
Policy and Regulation Division
September 16, 2020
Circular no. C-06-2625
Attn:
Banking corporations and credit card companies
Re: Additional Adjustments to Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directives for Dealing
with the Coronavirus (Temporary Provision)
(Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive no. 250)
Introduction
Against the background of the developments of the coronavirus event, as well as its increased
intensity and its ramifications on the global and Israeli economies, and thus on every private
household and business, and in order to help households and businesses get through the
challenging period, it was decided to extend the applicability of the temporary provision by a
period of an additional 6 months.
After consultation with the Advisory Committee on Banking Business Affairs, and with the
consent of the Governor, I have established the following amendment to the Proper Conduct of
Banking Business Directive as detailed below.
The main revision was incorporated in Section 15 of the temporary provision
Start and transition period
This Directive shall go into effect from the date of its publication, through March 31, 2021
(hereinafter, “the end of the Directive period”). The extension of the applicability of the temporary
provision as established shall not apply to Sections 10a-10b, 13d, and 14a-14d. That is, the date of
the end of the leniencies provided in said sections shall remain until September 30, 2020.
Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive no. 308A on Handling of Customer Complaints
The words “in very anomalous circumstances” were added to Section 6.
Explanatory remarks
The addition was intended to clarify that the banking corporation is to act in accordance with the
provisions of the section only in very anomalous circumstances, such as a general lockdown or
marked decrease in labor force.
Update of file
Update pages for the Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive file are attached. Following are
the provisions of the update:
Remove page Insert page
(June 23, 2020) [8] 250-1-8 (September 16, 2020) [9] 250-1-8
Respectfully,
Yair Avidan
Supervisor of Banks