Israel Discount Bank

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Israel Discount Bank Ltd. (Hebrew: בנק דיסקונט לישראל בע"מ‎), I.D.B., is one of Israel's three largest banks, with 260 branches, and assets of 171 billion NIS (US$38 billion).

The Eretz Yisrael Discount Bank was founded on April 5, 1935 by Leon Recanati, a new immigrant from Greece who had been the head of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, with two other partners, Yosef Elbaz and Moshe Karaso, in a store at 39 Yehuda Halevi St. in Tel Aviv. The bank was unique in that it was open to private customers unlike the other few dozen banks operating in Palestine at that time who mostly catered only to business people and entities. The bank complies with the ramifications of loans and interest in Judaism.

In 1952, the name of the bank was changed to Israel Discount Bank.

Major Holdings of the bank include Bank Mercantile Discount, shares in First International Bank of Israel, the Israel Discount Mortgage Bank, and Visa-CAL.

The bank's president is Giora Ofer. Shlomo Zohar is the chairman of the board of directors.

[edit] Milestones

In 1935, bank founded in Tel Aviv.
In 1949, the first public branch was opened in Haifa.
In 1962, IDB opened its first overseas branch on 5th Avenue in New York City.
In 1963, IPO on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
In 1965, the 100th branch was opened.
In 1972, I.D.B. was the first Israeli bank to install external ATM machines.
In 1983, subsequent to the stock scandal, ownership was transferred to the Government of Israel.
In 2006, control of the bank was tendered to private hands, though the government still owns 31% of shares.