Bank Hapoalim Launches Financial Platform for Children Aged 8 and Up
Translated & summarized from Globes by baba
Bank Hapoalim has launched a new platform to educate children aged eight and above on financial matters, allowing parents to open junior accounts with prepaid cards and fixed-interest savings options. This move aims to engage young customers amid rising competition from non-bank trading platforms in Israel.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Bank Hapoalim launches a financial education platform for children aged 8 and up.
- Parents can open junior accounts with prepaid cards limited to 2,500 shekels.
- A fixed-interest savings account offers 4% annual interest for six months, capped at 30,000 shekels.
- The platform includes financial educational content for children and parents.
- Half of new trading accounts in Israel are opened outside banks, prompting this move.
- Bank Hapoalim recently offered dollar rate freeze and distributed shares to about one million customers.
Bank Hapoalim is targeting young customers by introducing a new platform designed to teach children as young as eight about financial literacy. Through the bank's regular app, parents can open a junior account for their children and order a prepaid card with a spending limit of 2,500 shekels, receiving notifications for every purchase. This card can also be linked to digital wallets on smartphones.
Additionally, the platform offers parents the option to open a fixed-interest savings account with a 4% annual rate, limited to a six-month term and a maximum deposit of 30,000 shekels, capping potential earnings at around 600 shekels before taxes. Alongside these financial tools, the platform provides educational content for both children and parents.
This initiative comes amid a trend of young Israelis moving to non-bank trading platforms, with Bank of Israel data showing that half of all new trading accounts are opened outside traditional banks. Bank Hapoalim's move follows other recent efforts, including offering customers the ability to "freeze" the dollar exchange rate until the end of August at a cap of 2.89 shekels, a program limited to 100,000 clients, and distributing shares or cash grants to about one million customers in late 2025. The bank also provides commission-free trading benefits for customers under 35.
These steps reflect Bank Hapoalim's broader strategy to attract and retain younger clients in a competitive financial market.
