The Bank of Israel’s banking supervision division released its 2025 survey of satisfaction among small and very small business owners with banking services. The picture is mixed: perceptions of fairness and willingness to recommend banks remain low, mainly because of high fees and difficulty getting tailored service, even as digital channels continue to score very well.
Supervision chief Daniel Hahiashvili said satisfaction in this sector is lower than among households, which are themselves not especially satisfied, and urged banks to devote the resources needed to fix the problem, especially those rated poorly by their customers. The survey, conducted by the Roshink Institute, covers independent businesses with up to 20 employees, and about 75% of them are one-person businesses.
Two main indicators, recommendation and fairness, were stable compared with last year. On average, 51% of business owners said they would recommend their bank for business accounts, and overall fairness was rated at 54%. Among banks, the digital bank One Zero ranked first in both measures. In recommendation, it scored 58%, followed by Bank Hapoalim International and Mizrahi Tefahot at 57%, then Bank Leumi at 54%, Mercantile and Yahav at 53%, Discount at 48%, and Bank Hapoalim last at 47%. In fairness, One Zero led with 74%, followed by Yahav at 66% and Hapoalim International at 65%, while Discount and Bank Hapoalim again finished at the bottom with 49% and 47%.
For customers who viewed banks as unfair, the main reason was high fees, cited by 45% of respondents, alongside the sense that banks do not protect client interests and provide poor service. By contrast, digital service remained strong, with satisfaction at 85% for apps and 86% for websites. App satisfaction was led by Discount and Leumi at 89%, while Yahav was last at 76%.
The weakest area was professional value added. Only 27% said bankers understand their business and needs, and only 26% were satisfied with bankers’ help in financial decisions. Mercantile led in understanding business needs at 36%, while Discount was last at 24%. One Zero led in help with financial decisions at 31%, while Hapoalim and Discount were tied at the bottom with 24%. Satisfaction with help during cash flow difficulties rose modestly to 44% overall, led by One Zero at 50% and trailed by Discount at 33%. Satisfaction with bankers’ availability held steady at 60%, with Mizrahi Tefahot first at 71% and One Zero and Discount last at 53%.
