Bank of Israel to Cap Checking Account Fees at 120 Shekels a Year Starting Next July

The Bank of Israel has launched a sweeping overhaul of checking account fees, setting a maximum charge of 10 shekels a month, or 120 shekels a year, for up to 100 monthly transactions in a current account. The reform will be phased in from October 2026 through July 2027 across the banking system. The central bank also introduced a new regulated service called “payment account management,” with capped pricing, and set a ceiling on debit card fees.

Under the new structure, banks will be required to offer a basic package for personal customers and small businesses that covers everyday account activity, including deposits and withdrawals, transfers, cash transactions, check deposits and cashing, and bill payments. The basic plan will expand sharply from the old system, which covered only 10 direct-channel actions and one teller action, to 100 actions a month. It will also include new services such as payment cancellation instructions, standard documents and reports, and document retrieval.

The default will change as well, the new plan will apply automatically to all customers without the need to sign up. It will replace the account-package system introduced in 2014 and the previous per-transaction charging model. Customers with very light activity, between 0 and 2 transactions a month, will pay 5 shekels, and each additional transaction above 100 will be charged at no more than 1 shekel.

The debit-card cap is aimed mainly at weaker populations and customers who have been refused credit cards. Bank of Israel said these groups often do not receive fee waivers, while the card helps reduce branch visits and cash use for daily purchases. The monthly debit-card fee will be capped at 7 shekels, below the current market average of about 9 shekels. That rule takes effect in October 2026, earlier than the final checking-account pricing date, and will replace the current three-year fee waiver tied to holding a credit card as well.