TEL AVIV – The heads of Israel’s two biggest banks – Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi – will travel to the UAE this month.
A delegation led by Bank Hapoalim would leave on 8 September and visit Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where it will meet with government and trade officials as well as heads of the largest UAE banks.
First Abu Dhabi Bank the UAE’s largest lender, said last week it would open discussions with Hapoalim and Leumi.
Hapoalim CEO Dov Kotler on Sunday called it “a unique opportunity to establish economic relations and cooperation between our countries and their financial systems, which will yield economic growth for both parties”. He added there was an “immediate bilateral desire” to establish strong economic ties.
Second delegation
The chairman and CEO of Bank Leumi will head a second delegation on 14 September. The bank hopes to build on the diplomatic accord by kick-starting cooperation in finance, technology, health, tourism, agriculture and industry.
Israel and the UAE announced last month they would normalise diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship in a US-brokered deal. Last week, they agreed to set up a joint committee to cooperate on financial services, aiming to promote investment between the two countries.