The Israel Securities Authority promotes: Bank shares will receive a green lane for registration abroad

The Corporations Department of the Securities Authority claims that the adoption of this route will make it easier for public companies from Tel Aviv to register for trading on Wall Street exchanges as well. In other words, the banks and insurance companies, along with other large real corporations that are not registered for trading abroad, will be able to register their shares for trading there and even carry out IPOs in the future. This, without the need for a complex initial public offering (IPO), but in a relatively quick procedural procedure.

The reason for the adoption of the Canadian model, as far as is known, lies in the trade war between the US and China. Last summer, there was concern that the conditions would be tightened for foreign companies that trade on the American stock exchange as a foreign issuer (Foreign Private Issue or FPI). While in the US they are apparently aiming to narrow the steps of Chinese companies that are listed for trading on Wall Street, those who may actually be harmed by this are the 100 dual Israeli companies whose shares are traded there, as are Israeli high-tech giants that are traded there, such as Manday.com, Riskypaid, Wix, Faber and others.

After SEC Chairman Atkins left Israel, the joint work teams with the Labor Authority began, and one of the topics that came up, and is likely expected to be promoted, is the opening of a “route of mutual recognition”, which currently only exists between the US and Canada. The same Canadian model will allow not only Israeli high-tech companies that have issued and are traded on Wall Street to receive some relief in the regulatory conditions, but also for Israeli public companies that are traded under the Tel Aviv regulation to receive recognition of their supervision in the US.

The Real Estate Authority in Israel does not know for sure whether this is an issue that requires American legislation, or whether a green light from the White House is sufficient on the issue. But they do tend to estimate that there is a good chance of completing the model, as compensation for possible damage to companies with FPI status. This is another regulatory layer, according to which the USA basically declares that it trusts the supervision of securities issues by Israeli regulation (as it does with Canada). This will open up an easy and fast track for the Tel Aviv stocks to register for trading on Wall Street as well, and to carry out issues and capital raising there. The route will also be reversed and allow huge American companies to register for trading in Tel Aviv, and in view of the strong performance of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, there are apparently a number of people interested in this option as well.

Palo Alto has already been given the green light

In this context, the Securities Authority gave the green light toPalo Alto Register to trade here. The main limitation in its trading registration concerns private shares in its possession that have excess voting rights. Israeli law today does not allow a company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to trade in shares of more than one type. Therefore, Palo Alto presented a written commitment to the Securities and Exchange Commission, that whenever it issues shares in Tel Aviv (beyond registration for trading) that includes shares of another type, it will delete them from trading in Tel Aviv. Thus, investors in Israel will be able to trade in a single type of shares, as permitted by the law (which the Authority is asking the legislators to change in the broader context as well).

The Corporations Department at the Securities Authority concluded the year 2025 with 654 corporations that are currently traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Of this, 544 shares and participation units of partnerships, and another 110 companies with tradable bonds. In both cases, this is an increase compared to 2024, when 533 public companies with shares, and 98 bond companies were traded.

Last year, initial public offerings in the amount of 5.1 billion shekels were made, a dramatic increase during the war years compared to the 0.8 billion shekels raised in the IPO in 2024 and no such raisings in practice in 2023. This is a fundraising volume that is double that of 2022 (NIS 2.3 billion was raised in the IPO at that time), and half as low as the volume of fundraising in 2021. The value of the stock market in Tel Aviv reached NIS 1.8 trillion at the end of 2025, double its value in 2016 (NIS 822 billion).

The contractors are on the target of the authority: they will demand to find out how much they actually sold an apartment for

Those who are targeted by the Corporate Department of the Securities Authority are the contractors. The Authority came to the conclusion that the best way to regulate the industry is to issue new disclosure instructions to the construction company. In the second quarter, a first draft of disclosure is expected to be released that will actually try to create certainty in the way contractors present the prices of the apartments they sell.

“The contractors have moved from a model of 80/20 deals (which was reduced by the Bank of Israel), to new and creative models such as trade-in on apartments, contractors who themselves take out a 20-year mortgage against the sale of the apartment, or those who grant an option to cancel a deal,” says the Authority. “We will require a breakdown of the models so that their cost can be quantified for the price of the apartment,” they explain there. The Real Estate Authority is expected to publish a detailed guide regarding the reporting obligations, after holding a round table on the subject. The goal is for investors to know at what effective and economic price the apartments were sold, so that they can more correctly assess the value of public companies.

Another matter concerns urban renewal. Many companies in the field presented long-term forecasts, sometimes for ten years or more, regarding projects in the field of urban renewal. The authority plans to be strict with the companies, so that the forecasts will have to be based on the situation that currently exists in the market, they will be required to assume prices per square meter today and not make excessive and distant future estimates.