One Zero CEO: Banks should promote economic welfare

• Published date: 17 April 2024
• Author: Roi Weinberger
• Publication title: Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel)

Interviewed by "Globes" correspondent Nevo Trabelsy, Bar Dea said, "It would not be unreasonable to have a directive from the Supervisor of Banks that says that every time a bank submits an annual work plan, the Supervisor will ask to see if the plan reduces the number of customers in overdraft. That customers from (socioeconomic) cluster 2 to cluster 3. They should not concentrate only on capital adequacy or a certain profitability, but will check whether at the end of the day we contributed to the welfare of the public. These directives and vision would make us braver and invest in things we didn't invest in before."

Let's get back to last weekend's attack by Iran that was thwarted. As the CEO of an Israeli bank are you scared?

This morning I remembered that two days ago we were sitting at three in the morning watching a science fiction movie. An investor called me at three in the morning and asked if everything was okay. I told him I was making a presentation to the board and he asked me in response 'if I'm normal.'

"I came to found a bank and in response I was told that no bank has been established in 50 years, so there are few things I fear. I woke up in the morning and two things crossed my mind. The triumph of Israeli high-tech and the triumph of long-term thinking. 30 years ago people came along with a long-term road map and developed technologies. The second thought is that in some of the things that affect my life, long-term thinking does not exist. There are residents in the north who do not know what will happen to them tomorrow. You don't know what is happening with the haredim and with education. Precisely in the things that affect me the most on a daily basis, we live in a world of short-term thinking and this bothers me."

So there is nobody really managing the situation?

"It's not a political matter but how you manage implementation. This thinking does not exist in the public sector. In the EU there are directives. If you want to be a member of the EU there is a list of rules you must comply with such as lowering the corruption index or greenhouse gas emissions. It doesn't matter which party comes to power. One of the things we lack in the government is this kind of directive. It is possible to take it to the world of transport and reduce the number of cars on the road. We in the digital bank call it reaching the moon. In the public and political sector it does not exist."

Technology - the only way to enable an authority to advise everyone

...