đSovereign bypass blueprint by Leumi. Black market banks. Record 83,630 new apartments unsold. Offensive AI agents.
This is your TV10 Weekly Edition, curated from the Hebrew coverage on Israel's only business and finance channel.
Editorâs note:
This week, the battle between the Israeli Finance Ministry and the banking sector turned hot. As we reported last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich launched a direct assault, advancing a 15% tax on excess profits and threatening to double it to 30% if banks dare to roll costs onto consumers.
But while the Treasury was digging trenches in Jerusalem, Bank Leumi executed a brilliant flanking maneuver in Frankfurt. By issuing âŹ750M in covered bonds to European institutions, Leumi effectively bypassed the Israeli government. They secured capital at a spread of just 68 basis points, a rate that suggests European pension funds view Leumiâs mortgage book as safer than the Israeli governmentâs own balance sheet.
The message from the private sector seems to be, if the regulator tries to squeeze liquidity at home, we will source it from abroad. The government may have the power to tax, but the banks have the power to engineer their way out of country risk.
This edition considers the practicalities of the state vs. the street.
â Sophia Tupolev, TV10 Global Editor
TASE weekly snapshot
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange closed the week higher on Friday. All major indices reached new all-time-highs.
TA-35 Index (TASE:TA35): đ˘ +2.96%
TA-90 (TASE:TA90): đ˘ +0.63%
TA-125 (TASE:TA125): đ˘ +2.42%
Banking & Macro | Leumiâs blueprint
The most interesting financial event of the week may have been Bank Leumiâs (TASE:LUMI) raise (âŹ750M) - because of the structure utilized to achieve it.
Leumi issued Israelâs inaugural Covered Bond. Unlike senior unsecured debt, which relies on the bankâs general creditworthiness, this instrument provides investors with dual recourse - a claim on the issuer and a preferential claim on a dynamic cover pool of high-quality mortgage assets.
This structure allowed Leumi to secure an Aa3/AA- rating from international agencies Moodyâs and Fitch, effectively bypassing the Sovereign Ceiling penalty currently applied to Israelâs sovereign debt (Baa1/A).
The bonds priced at Mid-Swaps + 68bps. For context, this is a spread comparable to top-tier European banks, signaling those global institutional investors (German pension funds, French insurers) view Israeli private collateral as a âSafe Haven,â irrespective of the geopolitical risk.
With this move, Leumi CEO Hanan Friedman has established a blueprint for the entire Israeli banking sector to access cheaper, diversified Euro-denominated liquidity. This liquidity can now be deployed to support Israeli corporates expanding into the Eurozone, creating a positive feedback loop for the real economy.
Infrastructure | Port of failure
Cast your eyes to the southern port of Israel to understand why Leumiâs flanking maneuver may be part of a broader trend of decoupling - now an existential necessity for Israeli business.
While Leumi was busy engineering its own supply lines in Europe, the Port of Eilat is still reeling from its mistake of relying on the state for survival. Strangled by the Houthi blockade for months, the port is a strategic national asset that has effectively gone bankrupt waiting for backup to show up.
This week, even MK Moshe Gafni lost patience: âWe sat here, we agreed on an immediate outline to assist the port, and nothing happened.â The Port relied on the government to clear the shipping lane (a military failure) and then relied on the Treasury to bridge the gap (a fiscal failure). The result is paralysis and mass layoffs.
These moves show that entities that wait for the state, like the Port of Eilat, may suffocate.
Government sinks black market banks
In a coordinated dawn raid on Wednesday, the Tax Authority, Police, and Capital Market Authority stung dozens of unlicensed financial service providers across the country. The operation targeted black market financiers whose license applications were previously rejected by the regulator but who continued to operate underground. Investigators seized luxury vehicles, jewelry, and millions in unreported cash and checks.
Our take: Smotrich wants 15% from Leumiâs legitimate profits to fund the war. Simultaneously, the Tax Authority is cracking down on the âBlack Economyâ to stop leakage. Is the state desperate for liquidity? It seems to be tightening the noose on all money movement, whether it flows through a swift transfer in Frankfurt or a suitcase of cash in a luxury car in central Israel.
Real estate deployments
While the macro headlines focus on war, the credit committees at Israelâs largest banks are positioning for the recovery cycle. Mizrahi-Tefahot (TASE:MZTF) and FIBI Bank (TASE:FINI) executed the largest post-war credit facility, a âŞ2.5B financing package for Avisrorâs âAshiraâ project in Sde Dov.
Approving a facility of this size implies a bullish view on:
Terminal value, confidence in luxury real estate valuations for the 2030 delivery horizon. And - willingness to absorb construction and execution risk in a high-rate environment.
This liquidity injection is already catalyzing broader activity. Av-Gad (TASE:AVGD) secured planning approval for a âŞ388M urban renewal tower in Jerusalem. Mutag Ironi initiated a âŞ74M project in Givatayim. Abou Residential (TASE:ABOU-M) successfully raised âŞ115M this week from institutional investors to expand its rental housing portfolio. We may be witnessing the beginning of a new credit expansion cycle in residential real estate.
However, new figures released today by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) paint a complex picture. Apartment sales fell 12% between September and November 2025 compared to the previous quarter, with only 19,930 units sold. A record 83,630 new apartments remain unsold, with Tel Aviv holding nearly a third of that inventory.
Our take: When banks clear âŞ2.5B for luxury apartments to be delivered in 2030, they are looking past the current sales dip and the supply glut. They are making a cold, calculated bet that the war will end, the economy will rebound, and the demand for Israeli real estate is inelastic.
Tech & cyber
While the government argues about the budget, the tech world is busy reloading. Two major raises this week signal that there is no capital crunch for defensive tech.
Novee raised $51.5M (Series A). Founded by Unit 8200 and PMO alumni, Novee uses âOffensive AIâ to continuously attack its own clients (AI Agents) to find vulnerabilities before the enemy does. They raised this round just 4 months after founding.
IO River raised $20M. A platform that aggregates multiple CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) into one, aiming to solve the fragmentation of the global web.
Appointments | The economic watchdog & the IDF's CFO
Dr. Roni Ben-Porat has been appointed as the new Chief Economist of the Competition Authority. Dr. Ben-Porat is a veteran of the Authority since 2015 and has a PhD from Hebrew University - she previously led enforcement teams and served as an expert witness in abuse-of-dominance cases against major monopolies like Bezeq (TASE:BEZQ) and the Israel Electric Corporation.
Brig. Gen. Nir Weingold has been appointed as Head of the Ministry of Defense Budget Department. Brig. Gen. Weingold also assumes the role of Financial Advisor to the Chief of Staff, succeeding Brig. Gen. Gil Pinchas. He enters the position as the defense establishment secures a historic âŞ350B budget supplement for the coming decade to address multi-front security challenges.
Next week:
Monday January 19th:
Quarterly Unemployment Rate (Dec) Previous: 3.10%.
Tuesday January 20th:
Trade Balance (Dec) Previous: -3,247.2M
Exports (USD) (Dec) Previous: +5,125.2M
Imports (USD) (Dec) Previous: +8,372.4M
Plus, weâve got a new Comment section here on our site, which you can subscribe to separately. If youâd like us to consider your comment for submission to the site, please email us using the contact information below.
Thatâs our letter, folks. If you enjoyed this Weekly, please forward it to a friend.
The English TV10 newsletter is edited by Sophia Tupolev. We love to hear from you.
TV10 Global | Israel for Investors
Now in English: Bringing you the top stories from the Israeli business community, by Israelâs only business and finance network.
Please share your thoughts with us via: global@tv10.co.il or the Newsroom WhatsApp: +972-55-994-5851.
đ§ Subscribe to this newsletter! And follow the daily conversation on đ @tv10global.
Pings with new editions are also available via our WhatsApp Channel.
Disclaimer: This brief is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. All data is current as of publication date.