Jerusalem Bank Raises NIS 433 Million in Bond Offering Amid Strong Demand

Jerusalem Bank has successfully completed the issuance of a new bond series, Series 21, raising approximately NIS 433 million. The offering, part of the bank's strategy to broaden and diversify its capital market funding sources, attracted total bids of around NIS 817 million. Consequently, the bank decided to increase the issuance amount from the initially planned NIS 300 million to NIS 433 million.

The newly issued bonds are indexed to the consumer price index for both principal and interest, with an annual interest rate set at 2.58%. The bonds received a stable Aa2.il rating from Midroog. The average maturity of the series is 5.66 years, with repayment expected between 2031 and 2034.

Moshé Omer, Head of Strategy at Jerusalem Bank, stated that the successful fundraising is a component of the bank's plan to expand its capital market funding and will support its continued growth and expansion in core and complementary business areas.

This issuance follows other capital market activities by Jerusalem Bank this year, including a private securitization of mortgage-backed bonds worth about NIS 530 million in July and another securitization deal in February for approximately NIS 680 million. The bank has also expanded its mortgage business in recent years, selling loan portfolios to institutional entities, with cumulative sales exceeding NIS 7.5 billion since 2018.

Founded in 1963, Jerusalem Bank is an independent bank traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, focusing on mortgages, consumer credit, deposits, and construction financing, alongside project support and urban renewal. It also operates a Banking-as-a-Service model through a digital platform. The bank's chairman is Zeev Nahari, and its CEO is Yair Kaplan.