Financial Services Supervision Law (Regulated Financial Services), 5776-2016
חוק הפיקוח על שירותים פיננסיים (שירותים פיננסיים מוסדרים), תשע"ו-2016
Published: 2016-08-01Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2026-07-26 · Last amended 2026-07-22✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-17
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More
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Chapter VIII: Protection of Customers' Interests
Section A: Protection of the Interests of Customers of Financial Service Providers
Prohibition of Misrepresentation§
41.
(a)A financial service provider shall not do anything likely to mislead a customer in any material matter in a transaction for the provision of financial services, whether by act or omission, in writing or orally or in any other manner, including after the time of entry into the transaction; without derogating from the generality of the foregoing, the following matters shall be regarded as material in a transaction:
(1)the identity of the financial service provider;
(2)the types of financial services in which the financial service provider is permitted to engage in accordance with its licence;
(3)the seniority of the financial service provider, its distinction, its reputation, its financial condition and the scope of its business;
(4)the nature of the transaction, its scope, its qualifications and the conditions precedent to its performance;
(5)the period of entry into the transaction and the conditions for cancellation of the transaction, including the payments that must be made on account of its cancellation;
(6)all payments that the customer must pay within the framework of the transaction and their rates, including the maximum rate of interest permitted under law.
(b)The provisions of this section shall also apply to advertising.
Liability for Misrepresentation in Advertising§
42.
(a)Where there has been misrepresentation in advertising, the following shall be regarded as having breached the provisions of section 41 —
(1)the person on whose behalf the advertising was made and the person who brought the matter to publication and thereby caused its publication;
(2)if the advertising was misleading on its face or they knew it was misleading — also the distributor or the person who actually decided on the publication.
(b)Where facts concerning the characteristics of a financial service or concerning the expected results of its use have been stated in advertising, the Supervisor shall be entitled to require the person on whose behalf the advertising was made or the person who brought the matter to publication and thereby caused its publication to present evidence proving those facts; if evidence as aforesaid was not presented to the satisfaction of the Supervisor, that shall constitute prima facie evidence that the advertising was misleading, however it shall be a defence for the person on whose behalf the advertising was made and for the person who brought the matter to publication and thereby caused its publication that they did not know and were not required to know that the advertising was misleading.
(c)
(1)Covert advertising shall be regarded as misleading advertising even if its content is not misleading; for this purpose, "covert advertising" — advertising likely to lead a reasonable person to assume that what is stated therein is not advertising;
(2)A person who publishes advertising in the form of a feature, article or journalistic report, without clearly indicating that the matter is advertising, shall be regarded as having published misleading advertising, even if its content is not misleading;
(3)For the purposes of this subsection, the participation of a journalist, including a presenter, narrator or host in any media outlet, in advertising, shall be regarded as misleading advertising if there is no clear distinction therein between that person's professional work and the advertising;
(4)The Minister may prescribe rules concerning the wording and the manner in which a publisher must indicate or broadcast that the matter is advertising.
(d)Advertising shall be presumed to have been made by the person identified therein as the offeror of the financial service, unless otherwise stated in the advertising itself.
(e)Advertising likely to mislead a customer in Israel — it is immaterial, for the purposes of this section, whether it was made in Israel or outside Israel.
Prohibition of Exertion of Undue Influence§
43.
(a)A financial service provider shall not do anything, by act or omission (in this section — act), in writing or orally or in any other manner, likely to impair a customer's ability to decide whether to enter into a transaction with the provider, in a manner that involves the negation of the customer's freedom to contract or a material infringement of the customer's freedom to contract (in this section — exertion of undue influence).
(b)Without derogating from the generality of the provisions of subsection (a), a financial service provider who has committed any of the acts listed below shall be regarded as having exerted undue influence:
(1)restricted a customer's ability to leave a place or created in a customer the impression that the customer is restricted in the ability to leave a place;
(2)prevented a customer from having the opportunity to seek advice concerning entry into a transaction or concerning its terms;
(3)made repeated and persistent approaches to a customer or to the customer's family members in order to enter into a transaction, even though they have expressed, expressly or by implication, their wish that the provider desist from doing so;
(4)exploited a mental, intellectual or physical disability of a customer, knowing or being required to know of the existence of such a disability;
(5)exploited the fact that a customer does not know the language in which the transaction is being entered into sufficiently in order to understand the transaction;
(6)threatened or employed any means of intimidation against a customer or against the customer's family members;
(7)provided a service for payment without an explicit request from the customer.
Prohibition of Tying of Service to Service§
44.
(a)A financial service provider shall not make the provision of a financial service conditional upon the purchase of another asset or service, from the provider or from another person.
(b)The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply in any of the following:
(1)the extension of credit in connection with the financing of the purchase or rental of an asset, by a financial service provider;
(2)the deposit of a deposit with the holder of a licence for the provision of deposit and credit services, as a condition for the extension of credit by the licence holder;
(2a)the existence of a reasonable business connection between the financial service requested and the condition for the purchase of another asset or service, provided that the financial service provider has given notice thereof to the Supervisor and the Supervisor has not notified its objection within 90 days from the date of giving the notice;
(3)additional circumstances prescribed by the Minister, with the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset.
44a.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ג־2)
44b.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ג־2)
Deferral of the Monthly Repayment Date of a Housing Loan in Special Circumstances§
44c.
(a)The holder of a licence for the provision of credit or the holder of a licence for the provision of deposit and credit services who extends a housing loan to a customer, or the holder of a licence for the operation of a credit intermediation system through which a housing loan is extended (in this section — the lender), shall notify the customer, prior to the conclusion of the loan agreement, that it is possible to include in the loan agreement provisions under which the customer will be entitled to defer the monthly repayment dates of the loan, if so requested, on terms to be determined by the lender and subject to the following provisions:
(1)after the conclusion of the loan agreement, one of the following has occurred and a document evidencing it has been presented to the lender:
(a)the customer has ceased employment in the year preceding the customer's request to defer the monthly repayment dates of the loan, and has not been employed since;
(b)the customer has fallen ill or been injured and as a result is unfit to work for a consecutive period exceeding three months;
(c)the customer has given birth, six months have not yet elapsed from the date of birth and the customer is not employed;
(2)a customer may defer repayment dates pursuant to this section for a period requested by the customer, not exceeding three months, and not more than once in 12 consecutive months and not more than three times during the period of the housing loan.
(b)Without derogating from the provisions of any law, prior to the conclusion of the housing loan agreement, the lender shall provide the customer with a written explanation of the conditions for deferral of the monthly repayment date of the loan pursuant to this section; such explanation shall set out, inter alia, the costs involved in the customer's choice to include in the agreement provisions concerning the option to defer the monthly repayment date of the loan as referred to in subsection (a), as well as the costs involved in exercising that option.
(c)Deferral of the monthly repayment date of a housing loan pursuant to this section shall not prejudice the rights available to the customer under the loan agreement or under any law, including the customer's rights to alternative housing or the right to apply to the Special Committee pursuant to the provisions of section 5a of the Housing Loans Law, 5752-1992.
(d)The provisions of this section may not be contracted out of except for the benefit of the customer.
(e)In this section, "housing loan" — a loan for the purpose of purchasing a single apartment as defined in section 9a1(d) of the Banking Law (Customer Service), 5741-1981.
Deferral of the Repayment Dates of a Housing Loan due to Death§
44d.
(a)Where a customer who took out a housing loan from the holder of a licence for the provision of credit or from the holder of a licence for the provision of deposit and credit services or through the holder of a licence for the operation of a credit intermediation system (in this section — the lender) has died, the lender shall, at the request of the person obligated to repay the loan (in this section — the obligor), defer the repayment dates of the loan for the period requested by the obligor, not exceeding 12 months from the date of death, provided that a death certificate has been presented to the lender.
(b)On account of the deferral of the repayment dates of the loan in accordance with subsection (a), a lender shall not collect any payment that would not have been required to be paid but for the deferral, including default interest for the period of the deferral.
(c)Where the repayment dates of a housing loan have been deferred pursuant to the provisions of this section, the payments whose repayment dates have been deferred shall be paid in one of the following manners, at the election of the obligor:
(1)at the end of the repayment period of the loan pursuant to the agreement, in periodic instalments equal in number to the number of deferred dates;
(2)in instalments to be added to the instalments that the obligor must pay until the end of the repayment period.
(d)Where the lender becomes aware of the death of a customer who took out a housing loan from the lender, the lender shall state in any letter or notice sent in connection with the debt or the balance of the loan, details of the obligor's rights under this section.
(e)The provisions of this section may not be contracted out of except for the benefit of the obligor.
Restriction on a Fee for Handling an Application for a Housing Loan§
44e.
(a)For the handling of an application for a housing loan as defined in section 44c(e), the holder of a licence for the provision of credit or the holder of a licence for the provision of deposit and credit services may charge a fee not exceeding NIS 360.
(b)The amount referred to in subsection (a) shall be updated on 1 January of each year (in this subsection — the update date), in accordance with the rate of change of the index known on the update date compared with the index that was known on 1 January of the preceding year; the said amount shall be rounded to the nearest amount that is a multiple of NIS 10; for this purpose, "index" — the consumer price index published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Restriction on Engagement in Hawking§
45.
A financial service provider shall not engage in the provision of financial services by way of hawking; for this purpose, "hawking" — the offering of a transaction to a customer by a financial service provider, or by a person on its behalf, who arrives uninvited at the customer's place of residence, military service, employment, studies or in the vicinity thereof, all except for the offering of a transaction to a trader as defined in the Consumer Protection Law, 5741-1981, at the place where that trader conducts business.
Restrictions in respect of Minors§
46.
(a)The holder of a licence for the provision of credit or the holder of a licence for the operation of a credit intermediation system shall not enter into a transaction with a minor, whether by itself or through the minor's parent or guardian, or with a person who has reached the age of 18 and has not yet reached the age of 21; however, the Minister, with the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset, may prescribe circumstances or conditions under which the holder of such a licence shall be entitled to enter into a transaction with a minor, subject to the provisions of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, 5722-1962, or with such a person.
(a1)The holder of a licence for the provision of deposit and credit services shall not enter into a transaction with a minor, whether by itself or through the minor's parent or guardian; however, the Minister may, with the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset, prescribe circumstances or conditions under which the holder of such a licence shall be entitled to enter into a transaction with a minor provided that the minor has reached the age of 14, subject to the provisions of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, 5722-1962.
(b)No person shall publish advertising or employ another marketing method if the advertising or marketing method as aforesaid is likely to mislead a minor, to exploit the minor's age, naivety or lack of experience, or to encourage activity that may cause harm to the minor's body or physical or mental health.
Fair Disclosure§
47.
(a)A financial service provider is required to disclose to a customer every material detail concerning the content, scope, terms and price of a service it provides and the risks involved therein, and the possibility of cancelling a transaction, to the extent that such possibility exists, the conditions for its cancellation and the means of cancellation.
(a1)A financial service provider shall not publish advertising, even if such advertising is permitted under law, and shall not employ another marketing method, that encourages the taking of a loan or credit by a customer, unless such advertising or marketing method includes the name of the lender or credit provider and is accompanied by a warning in the following wording: "Failure to repay the loan or to repay the credit may result in a charge of default interest and enforcement proceedings"; in this subsection, "financial service provider" — excluding the holder of a licence for the provision of a service in a financial asset and the holder of a licence for the operation of a credit intermediation system.
(b)The Minister may prescribe obligations that shall apply to financial service providers, all or some of them, for the purpose of ensuring fair disclosure to customers, including obligations as detailed below:
(1)an obligation to state certain particulars in every publication concerning their services;
(2)an obligation to provide their customers, at fixed intervals and in any manner, with reports on the services provided to them and to state certain particulars therein.
Execution of a Contract in Writing and its Delivery§
48.
(a)Where the Minister has reasonable grounds to assume that this is required for the prevention of misrepresentation or the exploitation of a customer's distress, the Minister may prescribe by Regulations, in respect of types of services, that a financial service provider is required to execute a contract in writing with the customer and to state therein the particulars prescribed in the Regulations.
(b)A financial service provider who is about to conclude a contract with a customer is required to give the customer a reasonable opportunity to examine the contract before its conclusion, and also to deliver a copy thereof to the customer after signature.
Provisions concerning a Contract for the Provision of Financial Services§
49.
(a)The Supervisor may issue directives, generally or in respect of a particular type of financial service, concerning the content of a contract for the provision of financial services or other information intended for a customer, including conditions to be stipulated therein, as well as directives concerning the form of such a contract, including the minimum font size, and concerning the obligation to deliver the contract or the information to the customer.
(b)An arrangement that contradicts a condition to be stipulated in a contract pursuant to subsection (a) shall not be applied, and it shall be deemed as if the condition to be stipulated as aforesaid had been substituted in its place, unless the arrangement is to the benefit of the customer; nothing in this provision shall derogate from the criminal liability of a financial service provider.
Early Repayment§
50.
A person who has received a loan from the holder of a licence for the provision of credit or from the holder of a licence for the provision of deposit and credit services or through the holder of a licence for the operation of a credit intermediation system shall be entitled, notwithstanding any agreement providing otherwise, to repay the balance of the loan before the date prescribed for its repayment, in accordance with the conditions prescribed by the Minister, with the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset, including the payment of a fee to the licence holder by the person who has requested to repay the loan as aforesaid.
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