Client updates /  The Israel Securities Authority

The Israel Securities Authority published a position statement recently addressing various issues pertaining to brokerage activities and offerings of joint investment arrangements, including the applicability of the Regulation of Investment Advice, Investment Marketing and Portfolio Management Law (“Advice Law”) and the Joint Investment Trust Law to these activities.

The Knesset approved a series of legislative amendments this past July designed to promote competition in the money market – money market mutual funds, deposits and government bonds (short-term loans maturing in less than one year) – and to enable the general public to achieve higher returns on its short-term savings.

The Israel Securities Authority’s (ISA) new draft amendment to the general permit to offer foreign brokerage services in Israel proposes to obligate permit holders to supervise the activities of marketers on their behalf. For example, permit holders must carry out due diligence examinations of marketers.

The Israel Securities Authority recently established guidelines on when a cryptographic currency (token) is considered a security. The ISA determined that Kirobo tokens meet the definition of a security. This is primarily because the The Israel Securities believes investors would intend to purchase the tokens for financial purposes. In addition, these investors would anticipate their holdings to go up in value.

The Israel Securities Authority recently published a staff position on situations it believes indicate fraudulent securities trading and which justify opening a criminal investigation.

For the first time, the Israel Securities Authority has published Sentencing Guidelines for Administrative Procedures which contain the considerations guiding its determination of sanctions for individual violators and corporations in an administrative procedure.

The Israel Securities Authority announced a new relief for public companies regarding directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. This relief will enable companies to include in remuneration policies only the scope of the insurance coverage, without the other parameters required to date.

The Israel Securities Authority has approved expanding the trading activity conducted on the trading platform for institutional investors of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (referred to as TACT), so that additional types of securities may be issued and traded on it.

In an attempt to reduce insurance costs for License Holders, the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) has recently implemented several changes.