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Middle EastOctober 2 2017

Reform pushes Israel’s credit card sector into the unknown

Israel’s banks are under scrutiny, with the government moving to break up the current credit card oligopoly. But opinion is divided on whether these reforms will boost competition more generally or are just an experiment. Pinchas Landau reports.
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Israel’s credit card companies should have every reason to feel pleased, if not downright smug. Their results for the second quarter of 2017, published in August, displayed growth in most key measures as well as rising profits, maintaining the positive trend of recent years.  

Yet self-congratulation is noticeably absent from the credit card sector. Instead, the dominant emotions are disorientation with regard to the present and trepidation concerning the future. Even the positive performance data cannot dispel these negative sentiments, because the sector is facing upheaval.

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