Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings

The **Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings** is the senior regulatory office leading Israel’s Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority, the public authority responsible for supervising insurance, pension, provident-fund and long-term-savings markets, as well as selected non-bank financial services. The office sits within Israel’s broader financial-regulatory architecture alongside the Bank of Israel and the Israel Securities Authority.

Institutional identity and terminology

In English, the institution is commonly described as the **Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority**. In Hebrew it is the **רשות שוק ההון, ביטוח וחיסכון**. The senior official is often translated as the **Commissioner** or **Supervisor** of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings. The English government portal uses “Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority Commissioner,” while Hebrew government materials refer to the “ממונה רשות שוק ההון” or the supervisor of the authority.^[1][2]

The authority is a specialist financial regulator. Its core mandate is not the regulation of securities trading or commercial banking, but the supervision of insurance companies, pension funds, provident funds and long-term savings institutions. The official English government page states that the authority oversees financial services in Israel’s insurance, pension and provident-fund markets and is charged with ensuring stability and competitiveness in those markets.^[1]

The office is closely connected to the Ministry of Finance, but the authority is described in Hebrew government materials as an independent financial regulator. The Hebrew government page states that it supervises non-bank financial entities, including insurance companies, pension funds, provident funds, advanced-study funds, and regulated financial-service providers such as non-bank credit providers, payment and money-transfer services, fintech companies and providers of financial services in virtual currencies.^[2]

Mandate and objectives

The authority’s stated objectives combine prudential regulation, market conduct and competition. Its English government page says that it protects the stability of institutions under its supervision, supports proper management, and seeks to ensure that supervised institutions can meet their obligations to the public.^[1] The same page also describes the authority’s role in maintaining fairness and professionalism in services to customers and in verifying that products offered to the public are appropriate.^[1]

In practical terms, this means that the supervisor’s work spans several layers of regulation. First, the authority sets rules for the conduct of supervised entities. Second, it audits business activity and carries out ongoing monitoring. Third, it examines the relationship between regulated bodies and customers, including policyholders, pension savers, provident-fund members and users of regulated non-bank financial services.^[1]

The Hebrew government page states a similar formulation: the authority’s main purpose is to ensure stability and competitiveness in the insurance, pension and provident-fund markets; to preserve the stability and resilience of the institutions it supervises; and to maintain fairness and professionalism in customer service.^[3]

Markets and entities under supervision

The authority’s remit covers a large part of Israeli household financial wealth. It supervises pension funds, provident funds, insurance companies and other long-term savings vehicles. These include products closely related to existing Financepedia entries such as Kupat Gemel and Keren Hishtalmut. It also regulates insurance intermediaries and pension-advice or pension-marketing professionals.

Government human-resources material for the authority describes it as one of Israel’s three financial regulators and says it supervises more than NIS 2.7 trillion in assets.^[4] That figure reflects the scale of Israeli long-term savings and insurance assets under the authority’s regulatory sphere, although the exact amount varies over time with market prices, deposits, withdrawals and reporting definitions.

The authority’s official Hebrew page lists the main non-bank financial sectors under its supervision: insurance companies, pension funds, provident funds, advanced-study funds, regulated non-bank credit providers, payment and money-transfer services, fintech companies, and providers of financial services involving virtual currencies. It also states that the authority is responsible for licensing insurance agents and pension advisers and for supervising their activity toward insured persons and pension or provident-fund members.^[2]

The division of responsibilities is important in Israel’s financial system. Banking consumer complaints are handled by the Banking Supervision Department at the Bank of Israel, while the Bank of Israel’s own consumer-enquiries page directs questions about insurance companies, provident funds and pension funds to the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority.^[5] Questions about securities investment advice, by contrast, are directed to the Israel Securities Authority.^[5]

Establishment and legal development

Before the current authority structure, the function operated as a Capital Market, Insurance and Savings division within the Ministry of Finance. The Hebrew government portal states that the authority was established on **1 November 2016** under the Financial Services Supervision Law amendments.^[2] A State Comptroller document similarly describes the prior arrangement as a Ministry of Finance division and notes that it became an independent authority in 2016.^[6]

The 2016 institutional reform separated the regulatory function more clearly from the ordinary departmental structure of the ministry. In policy terms, this reflected the growing importance of long-term savings institutions and insurance companies in Israel’s financial system. Pension funds, provident funds and insurers had become central holders of public savings, institutional investors in capital markets, and counterparties to households seeking retirement, health, life, property and liability coverage.

The reform did not create a single consolidated financial regulator. Israel retained a sectoral model. Banking supervision remained under the Bank of Israel, securities-market supervision remained with the Israel Securities Authority, and insurance, pensions, provident funds and several non-bank financial-service activities were placed under the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority. This structure requires coordination among regulators, especially where banks, institutional investors, payment firms, fintech companies and capital-market intermediaries operate in overlapping markets.

Relationship with the Ministry of Finance and other regulators

The authority is associated with the Ministry of Finance but performs a specialized supervisory role. Its work intersects with fiscal, retirement-policy and financial-market policy, because pension and provident-fund regulation affects household saving, capital-market investment flows and the cost and availability of insurance.

The Bank of Israel describes the Israeli financial system as including financial institutions, markets, and payment and settlement systems, with different public bodies responsible for different parts of the system. The Bank of Israel’s English consumer information distinguishes between banks and credit-card companies, which fall under banking supervision, and insurance companies, provident funds and pension funds, which fall under the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority.^[5]

Coordination with the Israel Securities Authority is also necessary because institutional investors operate in securities markets, pension and insurance assets are invested in traded securities, and some financial-consumer issues involve both investment and savings products. Israel Securities Authority materials have described joint campaigns with the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Israel and the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority in connection with financial-services reforms.^[7]

Supervisory tools

The authority uses several types of supervisory tools. These include licensing, rulemaking, reporting requirements, audits, prudential monitoring, market-conduct supervision, public-enquiries mechanisms and enforcement. The official English page describes the authority’s methods as regulation of supervised entities, auditing of business activities, and analysis of relationships between supervised entities and customers.^[1]

Licensing is central in intermediary markets. Insurance agents, pension advisers and pension marketing agents require authorization, and the authority provides public systems for locating licensed professionals. The Hebrew government portal lists online services for licensing agents and advisers, public complaints, and locating licensed insurance agents, pension advisers and pension marketing agents.^[2]

The authority also operates public-information systems. Its Hebrew portal lists tools such as Har HaBituach for insurance information, Har HaKesef for locating pension savings, Gemel Net for comparing provident funds, Pension Net for comparing pension funds, and Insurance Net for comparing insurance companies.^[2] These tools support consumer comparison, identification of dormant or forgotten savings and transparency in long-term savings markets.

Public reporting is another supervisory mechanism. The authority’s public information system presents financial and managerial data for insurance companies, management companies, pension funds and provident funds operating in Israel and enables comparison across reporting periods and supervised entities.^[8]

Long-term savings and pension supervision

Long-term savings are a central part of the supervisor’s remit. Israeli households accumulate assets through pension funds, provident funds, advanced-study funds and life-insurance savings products. The authority’s supervision of these markets addresses asset management, governance, solvency, disclosure, management fees, marketing practices, portability and member rights.

A 2024 Globes report based on the authority’s 2023 commissioner’s report stated that the Israeli public’s pension and long-term savings assets reached NIS 2.5 trillion at the end of 2023, growing by almost 10% during that year.^[9] The same report stated that pension-fund assets grew by 11% to NIS 1.2 trillion and that assets in new pension funds rose to NIS 727 billion.^[9] These figures illustrate why the authority is a systemically important regulator even though it does not supervise banks.

Management fees are an important conduct and competition issue. Globes reported, citing the authority’s 2023 report, that average management fees as a percentage of assets fell from 2019 to 2023 in life-insurance policies, provident funds and new pension funds.^[9] Fee levels affect long-run retirement outcomes, so disclosure, comparison tools and competitive pressure are central components of the authority’s consumer-protection and market-efficiency role.

Insurance supervision

The insurance side of the authority’s work covers life insurance, health insurance, long-term-care insurance, motor insurance, property insurance and other general-insurance lines. The authority’s task is to ensure that insurers are prudently managed and able to meet obligations to policyholders, while also supervising the fairness and professionalism of customer-facing practices.^[1]

Insurance regulation includes solvency and capital requirements, product oversight, claims-handling standards, market-conduct rules, actuarial oversight and reporting. Israeli insurers are also significant institutional investors, so their financial soundness links household protection, capital-market stability and long-term savings. The authority’s prudential role is therefore both microprudential, focused on individual institutions, and system-relevant, given the size of insurance and retirement assets.

Non-bank financial services and fintech

The authority’s Hebrew government page states that it supervises regulated financial services including non-bank credit, payment services, money-transfer services, fintech companies and providers of financial services in virtual currencies.^[2] This aspect of the mandate reflects the diversification of Israel’s financial system beyond banks, insurers and traditional pension institutions.

Non-bank financial-service supervision involves consumer protection, licensing, anti-abuse controls and market integrity issues. The scope overlaps with areas of innovation, especially payments, digital finance and virtual-currency services. The authority’s human-resources page lists promotion of technological and business innovation in supervised entities as one of its main roles, alongside consumer protection, institutional stability, sound management and competition.^[4]

Consumer protection and public access

The authority serves as a public-facing regulator. The government portal lists a telephone contact number, *3002, and an online enquiries system.^[1] Its Hebrew page also lists public-service tools that allow consumers to compare products, locate savings and check licensed professionals.^[2]

Consumer protection is embedded in the authority’s mandate because insurance and retirement products often involve complex terms, long time horizons and information asymmetries between institutions and households. The supervisor’s role includes improving transparency, enforcing rules for intermediaries, monitoring conduct, and ensuring that products and services are suitable and fairly provided.^[1]

The existence of separate complaint channels is important. A customer complaint about a bank normally belongs to the Bank of Israel’s Banking Supervision Department, while complaints or questions concerning insurance companies, provident funds and pension funds are directed to the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority.^[5] This separation reflects Israel’s sector-based financial regulatory model.

Commissioner and leadership

The Hebrew government portal lists **Amit Gal** as the commissioner of the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority.^[3] The English government page opened in this research session still listed Dr. Moshe Barkat, showing that English-language government pages may not always reflect the most current personnel data.^[1] For that reason, the Hebrew government source is the better current reference for the listed officeholder.

The commissioner leads the authority’s policy, supervision and enforcement activity. The role involves interaction with the Ministry of Finance, the Knesset, other regulators, supervised entities and the public. Because the authority supervises large pools of retirement and insurance assets, the commissioner’s decisions can affect institutional governance, competition, product structures, consumer disclosures and enforcement priorities across the non-bank financial sector.

Significance in Israel’s financial system

The Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings is significant because the authority regulates the institutions that hold and manage a major share of Israeli household long-term savings. Pension funds, provident funds and insurance companies are also large institutional investors in domestic and foreign capital markets. Their regulation affects retirement adequacy, insurance availability, household risk protection and the flow of savings into the economy.

The authority’s significance is also structural. It forms one of the main pillars of Israeli financial regulation alongside the Bank of Israel and the Israel Securities Authority. While the Bank of Israel focuses on monetary policy, banking supervision and payment-system stability, and the securities authority focuses on securities-market integrity and investor protection, the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority focuses on insurance, retirement saving and selected non-bank financial services. The boundaries are distinct, but the policy challenges often overlap.

See also

* Ministry of Finance (Israel) * Bank of Israel * Israel Securities Authority * Kupat Gemel * Keren Hishtalmut * Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings