Israel Capital Market, Insurance and Saving Authority

The Capital Market, Insurance, and Savings Authority is an independent financial regulator in Israel, which oversees Israel's non-banking financial entities, including insurance companies, pension funds, provident and continuing education funds. The Authority also oversees regulated financial services providers such as providers of non-banking credit, payment and transfer services, fintech companies, and cryptocurrency-based financial services. The Authority is also responsible for licensing insurance agents and pension advisors, and it oversees their operations and interactions with their members, insured individuals, and policyholders. The Capital Market, Insurance, and Savings Authority was established on November 1, 2016 according to the Supervision of Financial Services Law (Legislative Amendments) 5776-2016. Until that date it operated as the Capital Market, Insurance, and Savings Division of the Ministry of Finance. The Authority is headed by Dr. Moshe Bareket. The Authority's main functions, according to the laws under which it operates, are: 1) to protect the interests of the insured individuals, members, and clients of the regulated entities; 2) to ensure the stability and proper functioning of the regulated entities; 3) to promote competition in the financial system, and specifically in the capital market, and the insurance and savings sectors; 4) to promote technological and business innovation in the regulated entities' operations; 5) to promote competition in the field of financial services. The Authority is also engaged in promoting financial education on the areas under its responsibility, based on its commitment to the public in Israel, with the aim of raising awareness of these areas and providing the public with information that allows it to make informed decisions. The Authority oversees assets whose value total 1.8 trillion NIS, and it increases every year due to the public's pension contributions and the insurance sector activities.