Israel’s Bank Hapoalim profit surges to $515m

Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest lender, reported a 43 percent rise in quarterly profit, boosted by a jump in financing income amid high inflation and interest rates that more than offset a spike in provisions against loan defaults.

Hapoalim, the country’s largest bank by credit to the public, said it earned 1.92 billion shekels ($515 million) in the second quarter, up from 1.34 billion a year earlier. That resulted in a return on equity of 15.8 percent.

Net interest income rose 35 percent to 4.3 billion shekels as it recorded a provision for credit losses of 579 million shekels, up from the 91 million provision in the April-June period in 2022.

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Hapoalim, whose credit portfolio rose 7.6 percent over the past year, said it would pay a second-quarter dividend of 769 million shekels, a payout of 40 percent of quarterly net income.