Israel Securities Authority

The ISA's responsibilities span the full lifecycle of securities-market activity.[2] On the offerings side, it grants permits for prospectuses for public securities offerings and mutual-fund units.[2] On an ongoing basis, it reviews corporate disclosures — periodic financial statements, current reports, related-party transactions, and tender-offer disclosures — and monitors periodic and immediate disclosures, including reports about events that could materially affect a company or the price of its securities.[2]

The Authority also regulates and supervises the mutual-fund industry and secondary markets, and it is responsible for ensuring mutual funds meet filing and due-diligence requirements, while the Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Commissioner oversees provident and pension funds.[6][2] Public companies file annual reports containing audited financial statements with both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and the ISA, and are required to report material events and disclose interested-party transactions.[7]

The ISA licenses and supervises portfolio managers, investment advisers, and investment marketing agents, and supervises money-laundering-law compliance by portfolio managers and non-bank members of the TASE.[2] It drafts and initiates virtually all primary and secondary legislation pertaining to Israeli securities laws, and cooperates with government authorities on capital-market policy and legislation.[2] The Authority also collaborates with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel in operating and financing the Israel Accounting Standards Board.[2]

Reporting requirements can be enforced through Israeli courts on the ISA's petition, and the ISA holds the power to direct the TASE to suspend trading in a company's securities.[2] Under Section 36a of the Securities Law, companies must report to the ISA outside overtures to acquire their assets or investments that would constitute control, beginning at the negotiation stage; the review focuses on financial considerations including the acquiring company's corporate structure and degree of financial leverage.[3]

The ISA's origins trace to a committee formed by Israel's Justice Ministry in 1962 under Dr. Uri Yadin to examine regulation of the capital market.[8] The committee issued its report in 1963, recommending the creation of an independent supervisory body.[8] Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir submitted a legislative proposal in 1964, and the Knesset passed the Securities Law in 1968.[8] The chapter of the law establishing the Authority itself came into force in April 1969, with oversight and enforcement provisions taking effect later.[8]

The law defines the Authority's function as protecting the interests of the public investing in securities.[1] It provides for an Authority of no more than 13 members, appointed by the Minister of Finance, including members drawn from the public, state employees, and one Bank of Israel employee, along with conflict-of-interest restrictions on members' securities transactions.[1] The Minister of Finance appoints the chairperson and deputy chairperson from among the Authority's members; the chair serves an initial term of five years, with possible additional three-year terms, and bears responsibility for the Authority's activities and for implementing its decisions.[1]

The Companies Law 5759–1999 references the ISA by directing the authority to the separate Securities Law rather than restating its mandate, reflecting its foundational role across multiple statutes.[9] Section 142 of the Companies Law requires public companies to report to the Securities Authority, the stock exchange on which their securities are listed, and the Companies Registry as required by applicable law.[9]

The ISA's professional departments include a Corporations Department, which supervises financial reports and prospectuses; an Investment Department, which licenses and supervises portfolio managers, investment advisers, and marketers; an Enforcement and Investigations Department; and a Legal Department that advises and represents the Authority in court.[8] The Investigations, Intelligence and Market Surveillance Department operates an automated system that continually monitors trading on the Israeli capital market during trading sessions and is designed to detect unusual events as they occur.[10]

The Authority's plenum meets monthly and also works through permanent and ad hoc committees.[2] The ISA is funded entirely by annual fees paid by entities regulated under the Securities Law and the Joint Investment Trust Law, rather than by government financing; the Minister of Finance and the Knesset Finance Committee approve its budget.[2]

The Securities Law gives the ISA chairperson or an authorized staff member the power, in specified circumstances, to demand information and documents relating to a supervised corporation or a suspected violation and to enter certain non-residential premises to request documents.[1] ISA investigators may interrogate people and seek judicial authorization to search premises and seize evidence; the chair may also petition a court for an injunction against an ongoing or imminent offense or violation.[1]

Amendment 45 to the Securities Law, enacted in 2011, significantly expanded the ISA's enforcement toolkit.[11] The amendment enabled the Authority to initiate investigative procedures and administrative inquiries and to pursue enforcement through the Administrative Enforcement Committee — a public, fast-track administrative route addressing serious securities-law violations that were not criminal in nature.[11] This administrative channel supplemented criminal proceedings for the most serious offenses and financial sanctions for minor violations.

The Administrative Enforcement Committee could impose financial sanctions, order payment to persons harmed by an offense, prohibit a person from holding office, cancel a license, or direct steps to correct a violation.[11] As of 2013, statutory maximums stood at NIS 5 million for a corporation and NIS 1 million for an individual, though these figures reflect the law as reported at that time and may not represent current limits.[11]

An early landmark administrative enforcement decision involved Africa-Israel Industries' offer to buy the public shares of its subsidiary, Negev Ceramics, and take it private.[11] The Committee found that the offer had not disclosed advanced discussions between Negev Ceramics and Canadian company Olympia about a major tile-export deal, imposing a NIS 5 million sanction on Africa-Israel along with sanctions of NIS 400,000 on CEO Avraham Novogrocki, NIS 150,000 on Negev Ceramics CEO Avi Motola, and NIS 75,000 on CFO Alon Harpaz.[11]

The Securities Law provides for cooperation with foreign securities authorities under memoranda of understanding, enabling assistance that can include information and documents, investigations, and other specified enforcement assistance.[12] Assistance is not to be provided if, in the Attorney General's opinion, it could harm Israel's sovereignty, security, a vital interest, the public interest, or a pending investigation.[12]

The ISA has expanded substantially into fintech oversight in recent years.[5]

By July 2025, the ISA had granted payment licenses to Revolut, Rapyd, Mesh Payments, and Airwallex.[13] These licenses permitted the firms to transfer, exchange, and clear funds, operate digital wallets, and offer interest on account balances; license holders were required to keep customer funds separate from company funds, comply with risk-management and anti-money-laundering rules, and meet Payment Services Law requirements on disclosure, contract terms, fraud prevention, and consumer protection.[13]

In 2020, the ISA and the Israel Innovation Authority selected five fintech firms for a Data Sandbox pilot.[14] Participating companies worked on market making, digital identification and verification, trading-anomaly detection, investment-management tools, and data analysis, with access to the ISA database; the program was a collaboration among the ISA, the TASE, and the Israel Innovation Authority, supported by the Ministry of Finance.[14]

On the cybersecurity front, an INSS memorandum identified the ISA as the sectoral regulator responsible for supervising Israel's main financial trading systems, and proposed assigning the ISA binding cybersecurity regulatory authority over capital-market trading infrastructure in cooperation with and under the supervision of the National Cyber Directorate — a proposal rather than an enacted rule at the time of publication.[15] In 2018, the ISA began using blockchain technology in its operating systems to address information-security challenges, with the INSS describing the technology as adding "another layer to ensuring the credibility of the information relayed to the supervised bodies."[16] Two further systems were slated for blockchain updates: an online voting system and Magna, the system used to record reports from entities under ISA supervision.[16]

In April 2021, the ISA issued a recommendation calling for all public companies to publish annual environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports based on international standards — a recommendation, not a mandatory reporting rule.[17]

On 27 August 2023, Yosef (Seffy) Zinger began his term as ISA chairperson, appointed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich following approval by an appointments committee.[5] Zinger succeeded Anat Guetta, who had left the post in April 2023.[5] On taking office, Zinger stated his intention to advance Israel's capital market and economy while safeguarding investors' interests, supervising regulated bodies, and enforcing the law.[5] He also noted that the Authority had taken on additional responsibilities in recent years beyond its traditional securities supervision, particularly oversight of fintech, including financial-information services and payment services, which he described as important to competition and the cost of living.[5]

Anna I. Gavious served as a Commissioner of the ISA from 2016 to 2019.[18] On 5 October 2026, Sara Kandler was appointed ISA chief executive officer through an internal tender, replacing Oded Spirer, who was due to leave the post in December after seven years.[19] Kandler had worked at the Authority since 2001, heading its Audit and Enforcement Department and its Corporations Department, serving as deputy legal counsel, leading the legislation unit, and advising the chairperson.[19] Her tenure included involvement in reforms concerning the TASE's structure, rating companies, trading platforms, and technological innovation.[19]

The ISA is integrated into Israel's broader financial-system governance through its chairperson's statutory membership on the Financial Stability Committee.[4] The committee, chaired by the Bank of Israel Governor, coordinates financial supervisors, identifies and monitors systemic risks, develops means to prevent or reduce them, and issues alerts or recommendations; it is required to meet at least twice a year.[4]

The Companies Law also gives the ISA a public-information and public-interest role. Reports submitted to the Authority under section 142 are open to public inspection unless restricted by law, and any person may obtain certified copies that can be used as evidence in legal proceedings.[9] The Authority may also help fund certain representative actions when it is convinced that an action serves the public interest and has a reasonable chance of being approved by the court.[9]

The ISA's handling of the binary-options industry attracted notable criticism. The Securities Law prohibits offering binary-option trading through a trading platform and prohibits operating a platform used only by clients outside Israel when it offers binary options, with the ISA assigned supervision of proper and fair operation of licensed trading platforms.[1] Reporting noted that ISA chair Shmuel Hauser was credited with drafting and advancing the legislation banning binary options, but also that the ISA was criticized for acting late against the industry — Israeli customers had been barred from being targeted in March 2016, while foreign customers could still be targeted during the three-month period before the new law took effect.[20]

A separate report revealed that an earlier version of the bill had included restrictions on Israeli forex, CFD, and other online-trading companies offering products abroad without a license, but those provisions were removed, leaving a bill focused solely on binary options.[21] Hauser told a Knesset committee that, after receiving public comments and holding discussions with industry representatives, the ISA decided to reduce the bill's scope, though the ISA's public communications about the bill's progress had not mentioned this substantial change.[21]

In a 2023 review of trading around the Hamas attack of October 7, the ISA's Investigations, Intelligence and Market Surveillance Department examined its automated monitoring data and found no suspicious activity on the Israeli exchange on the relevant days; the Authority clarified that its findings covered trading in Israel only and did not address trading on foreign exchanges.[10]