(1) Receipt of a monetary deposit in Israeli currency or foreign currency;
(2) Opening and managing a current account in Israeli currency as long as one of the following is met:
(a) The account with a credit balance in favor of the customer;
(b) The customer complies with the terms of the agreement between him and the banking corporation in connection with the management of the account;"
- The justification for imposing the aforementioned duty was clarified by the Supreme Court, for example, other municipal applications 3794/18 Haim Toledano v. First International Bank of Israel in a Tax Appeal (October 2, 2019, para. 18 (hereinafter: "the Toledano case"), as follows – "This provision stems from the advantage granted by the legislature to banking corporations, especially the essential service they provide to the public...(See there in more detail).
However, alongside the general obligation of banks to open accounts to customers in the absence of a reason justifying a reasonable refusal, as stated, the language of that provision also derives from the opposite conclusion, as clarified by the Supreme Court (ibid.) – "However, the duty imposed on the bank to provide banking services is not an absolute obligation. From the rule of prohibition that appears in section 2(a) of the Banking Law, it is possible to hear them. In other words, when there is a reasonable reason, a banking corporation is entitled to refuse to provide the services subscribed to it."
- In the Banking Law, the legislature did not define a reasonable reason justifying such refusal, but other sources in the law regulate this, and this is what Section 7 of the Prohibition of Money Laundering Law, 5760-2020 instructs:
")a) For the purpose of enforcing this Law, the Governor of the Bank of Israel shall order by order, after consultation with the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Public Security, regarding the type of matters and actions in property to be specified in the order, that a banking corporation –