Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority

The **Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority** is Israel’s regulator for insurance, pension, provident-fund and long-term-savings markets, as well as a range of regulated non-bank financial services. It supervises institutional investors and intermediaries, sets conduct and prudential rules, licenses certain market participants, and operates within Israel’s broader financial regulatory architecture.^[1]

Overview

The Authority is commonly referred to in English as the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority, or CMISA. In Hebrew, it is רשות שוק ההון, ביטוח וחיסכון. Its official government profile describes it as responsible for financial services in the insurance, pension and provident-fund markets, with a stated purpose of ensuring stability and competitiveness in those markets.^[1]

The Authority’s remit is distinct from that of the Bank of Israel, which supervises banks and performs central-bank functions, and from the Israel Securities Authority, which supervises securities-market activity. The Bank of Israel describes Israel’s allocation of supervisory responsibilities by noting that stability of “other financial institutions” is entrusted to the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority, while proper functioning of the securities market is entrusted to the Israel Securities Authority.^[7]

In practical terms, CMISA is the principal public authority for much of Israel’s long-term household savings system. It supervises entities that manage pension products, kupot gemel, keren hishtalmut products and insurance liabilities. It also regulates and licenses insurance agents, pension advisers and pension marketing agents, and supervises their dealings with policyholders and members.^[2]

Formation and institutional status

The Authority was established on 1 November 2016 under the Supervision of Financial Services legislative amendments.^[2] Before its establishment as an independent authority, the relevant supervisory functions operated for many years as a division within the Ministry of Finance. The State Comptroller’s English abstract on supervision of institutional entities describes the body as having operated “for years” as the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Division until it was established as an independent authority in 2016.^[6]

The change was part of a wider evolution in Israel’s post-2000 financial regulatory structure. The creation of the Authority separated professional supervision of insurance and long-term savings from the ordinary departmental structure of the Ministry of Finance. Contemporary reports on the proposal described the reform as giving the new regulator its own budget and decision-making capacity over use of resources, while retaining appointment of the commissioner through the finance minister with government approval.^[8]

The Authority remains associated with the Ministry of Finance in the government portal, but its official Hebrew page describes it as an independent financial regulator in Israel that supervises non-bank financial bodies.^[2] This status matters because supervised institutions—insurance companies, pension funds and provident-fund managers—hold long-duration obligations to the public. Regulation therefore combines prudential supervision, consumer protection, licensing and market-development functions.

Mandate and objectives

The Authority’s official description identifies three broad objectives: maintaining stability and resilience of supervised institutions, ensuring proper management so those institutions can meet obligations to the public, and preserving fair and professional service to customers.^[1] It also states that the Authority seeks to ensure that products offered to the public are appropriate and suitable.^[1]

To implement those objectives, CMISA uses several regulatory tools. Its official profile lists regulation of supervised entities, examination of their business activity, ongoing monitoring and review of relationships between supervised entities and their customers.^[1] These activities place the Authority at the intersection of prudential regulation and market-conduct regulation: it examines whether firms are financially sound, but also whether their sales practices, disclosures, claims handling and customer treatment comply with regulatory standards.

The Authority’s mandate covers institutional bodies that manage long-term savings, including insurance companies, pension-fund management companies and provident-fund management companies. A national risk-assessment document published by Israeli authorities describes CMISA as responsible for regulation and supervision of the financial services sector, including insurance companies and companies managing pension funds and provident funds.^[9]

Supervised sectors

CMISA supervises insurance companies and the main forms of long-term savings in Israel. These include pension funds, provident funds and study funds. These products are central to Israeli household balance sheets because they are used for retirement saving, employer-linked savings and tax-preferred medium- or long-term accumulation.

Insurance supervision includes life insurance, health insurance, general insurance and the solvency of insurers. Publicly listed insurance groups in Israel report that their institutional and insurance-agency activities are subject to supervision by the Authority, while their publicly traded securities are also subject to securities regulation by the Israel Securities Authority.^[10] This illustrates Israel’s functional split: a group can be supervised by CMISA for insurance and pension operations, by the securities regulator for disclosure to public investors, and by other authorities for competition, tax or anti-money-laundering matters.

The Authority also supervises regulated financial services outside the banking system. Its official Hebrew page lists non-bank credit providers, payment and money-transfer services, fintech companies and providers of financial services in virtual currencies among the areas under its supervision.^[2] This extension reflects the growing importance of non-bank finance in Israel, including consumer credit, payments, remittance activity and crypto-asset service providers.

CMISA is also responsible for licensing insurance agents and pension advisers, and for supervising their activity toward insured persons and members.^[2] This is a key consumer-protection role because many Israeli households encounter pension, provident and insurance products through intermediaries rather than directly through institutional bodies.

Powers and regulatory instruments

CMISA issues circulars, directives, draft rules, commissioner positions and other regulatory documents. Its official regulation and legislation page describes a search engine for locating regulations, laws, circulars, clarifications, commissioner positions, principal determinations and drafts.^[5] These instruments are used to translate statutory powers into detailed operating requirements for supervised entities.

The Authority’s powers include licensing, supervision, enforcement and the imposition of financial sanctions. Annual reports of supervised Israeli financial groups describe the Commissioner of the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority as having extensive regulatory, supervisory and enforcement powers, including powers to impose financial sanctions, and note that regulated financial service providers are subject to directives published by the Commissioner from time to time.^[11]

In prudential supervision, CMISA evaluates whether institutional entities have adequate governance, risk management, capital, reserves and operational capacity. In conduct supervision, it focuses on the treatment of policyholders, pension savers and customers of regulated financial-service providers. Its consumer-facing tools also indicate a role in transparency: the Authority publishes comparison and information systems for insurance, pension funds and provident funds, and provides public complaint channels.^[2]

Public information systems and consumer interface

A visible part of CMISA’s work is providing digital tools for the public. The government portal lists “Har HaBituach” for insurance information, “Har HaKesef” for locating pension savings, Gemel Net for comparing provident funds, Pension Net for comparing pension funds, Bituch Net for comparing insurance companies, public reports of institutional entities, fee calculators and licensing systems for agents and advisers.^[2]

These services support market transparency. They allow consumers and advisers to compare returns, fees and product characteristics, and to locate dormant or forgotten savings. The Authority also operates public enquiry channels and publishes public complaint reports. Its government page states that the 2024 public complaints report was published to reflect material information on complaints submitted to the Authority against institutional bodies and to provide an additional view of the service quality those bodies provide to the public.^[2]

The Bank of Israel directs complaints about insurance companies, provident funds and pension funds to CMISA, which reinforces the division of consumer-contact responsibilities among regulators.^[12] By contrast, bank-customer complaints fall under the banking supervisory framework, and securities complaints may involve the Israel Securities Authority depending on the activity.

Position in Israel’s financial regulatory system

Israel’s financial regulatory structure is sectoral rather than unified. The Bank of Israel and its Banking Supervision Department supervise banks and payment-system stability; the Israel Securities Authority supervises securities offerings, public-company disclosure and capital-market intermediaries; CMISA supervises institutional savings, insurance and non-bank financial services; and the Ministry of Finance sets fiscal and many financial-policy frameworks.

This structure requires cooperation across regulators. In 2025, the Bank of Israel stated that it had initiated a joint working group with the Israel Securities Authority and CMISA to examine institutional-investor and mutual-fund exposure to foreign currency through derivatives.^[13] Such cooperation is important because institutional investors supervised by CMISA are major participants in securities, foreign-exchange and derivatives markets that also matter for monetary and financial stability.

CMISA also interacts with banking supervisors on consumer-credit policy. A joint Bank of Israel and CMISA release on consumer credit described uniform regulation by the Banking Supervision Department and the Authority for provision of consumer credit in the financial system.^[14] This type of coordination is intended to reduce regulatory gaps between banks and non-bank lenders when both supply similar credit products.

Commissioner and governance

The Authority is headed by the Commissioner of the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings. The official English profile lists Amit Gal as the Commissioner.^[1] The Ministry of Finance announced in June 2024 that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had decided to appoint Amit Gal to the position of Commissioner, citing his prior experience as Acting Commissioner and familiarity with Israel’s capital market, institutional bodies and pension funds.^[4]

The commissioner’s role combines administrative leadership of the Authority with formal supervisory powers. In regulated sectors, references to the “Commissioner” often function as references to CMISA’s rulemaking, licensing or enforcement authority. This differs from securities-market regulation, where the Israel Securities Authority’s chair and board structure is central, and from banking regulation, where the Supervisor of Banks operates within the Bank of Israel framework.

Recent regulatory themes

Recent CMISA activity has included rules and proposals related to digital finance, non-bank credit, pension withdrawals and crypto-asset services. The Authority’s government page reported in 2026 that it had published new regulatory steps to strengthen the financial-services and crypto-asset markets, including circulars on safeguarding a financial asset and capital requirements for licensees in virtual-currency activity.^[2]

The same government page reported that CMISA published dedicated rules for buy-now-pay-later transactions in July 2026, including enhanced customer disclosure, cancellation options and strengthened supervision of credit providers and merchants.^[2] It also reported work on stablecoin regulation, including a June 2026 memorandum for regulating issuance of digital stablecoins in Israel and an April 2026 approval for limited distribution of a shekel-linked stablecoin issued by a licensed financial-asset service provider.^[2]

Long-term savings remained a core policy area. In July 2026, the Authority announced measures addressing solicitation of early pension withdrawals, requiring institutional bodies to take active steps before approving early-withdrawal requests so that savers understand the consequences.^[2] These measures illustrate the Authority’s consumer-protection role in retirement savings, where early withdrawals can affect future pension adequacy.

Significance

CMISA is significant because institutional savings and insurance companies are large holders of Israeli and foreign financial assets, long-term providers of household retirement income, and major counterparties in credit and capital markets. Its decisions can affect fees, product design, competition among institutional bodies, distribution practices, insurance pricing and the governance of long-term savings.

For Israeli households, the Authority’s influence is visible in pension enrollment, provident-fund management, study-fund products, insurance claims, agent licensing and complaint handling. For financial institutions, CMISA is a licensing and supervisory authority whose circulars and enforcement actions shape business models in insurance, pension management, non-bank lending, payment services and emerging digital-asset activity.

The Authority therefore occupies a central but specialized place in Israel’s financial system. It is not the central bank, not the securities exchange regulator and not a stock exchange. Instead, it is the regulator of long-term savings, insurance and much of non-bank finance—sectors that connect household welfare, financial stability, competition and market conduct.