Threat of Labor Dispute: Mercantile Bank Employees Committee Rejects Merger with Discount Bank

SadaNews Economy Translation - The head of the Employees Committee at Mercantile Bank of Israel, attorney Alex Greenspan, announced the committee's opposition to a joint decision between the bank and Discount Bank to merge together.

Greenspan sent a unified message to the managers of both banks and other financial and economic entities in Israel, pointing out that employees, for many years, had been hearing rumors and speculations about their fate, rather than receiving organized and reliable information from their employer, and they are currently surprised by the new step.

The committee's head threatened, as reported by the Hebrew economic newspaper Globes, translated by Sada News Economy, to take union actions that may include declaring a labor dispute soon.

He indicated that Mercantile Bank has been operating for 108 years and has proven its strength over the decades, calling for its development and enhancement instead of merging.

The number of Mercantile Bank branches is about 74 across Israel, which now appears to be on the verge of closure.

According to the newspaper, Discount Bank has recently begun studying this step.

Estimates in the Israeli capital market suggest that this step will have significant repercussions, potentially leading to the actual closure of dozens of branches affiliated with Mercantile Bank, and the bank may offer voluntary retirement agreements to a large segment of its employees, numbering about 1,500 out of 7,400 employees in the Discount Group.

Mercantile Bank focuses on providing credit services to Arab and religious residents, in addition to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Discount Bank has the lowest efficiency ratio in the banking sector (48.3% at the end of the first quarter), and the higher the ratio measuring operating expenses as a percentage of revenues, the more it indicates negative performance for the bank, as mentioned by Globes and translated by Sada News Economy.