A man was intended to receive child support payments from his ex-wife who lives in Russia, but the payments were delayed or rejected by the bank due to restrictions arising from international sanctions imposed on Russia due to the war in Ukraine.
The Court held that the bank's refusal to transfer the funds due to the implementation of its risk management policy is reasonable, but it should have done so in an orderly and clear manner. The interest of maintaining the bank's relations with banking corporations and financial entities around the world, maintaining the bank's stability and the proper operation of the entire banking system, and maintaining Israel's economic and commercial relations justifies the establishment of policies and procedures in connection with entities that have been sanctioned by international bodies. The bank is obliged to uphold, adopt and implement risk management policies of the Supervisor of Banks, and as long as it acts pursuant to such policies, such action cannot be deemed an unreasonable refusal to provide a service provided the bank implemented the policy in a consistent, orderly and clear manner. Here, the bank took actions required by the risk management policy, which the bank is obligated to adopt, and the plaintiff knew well that there is a problem with the banking system in Russia and that it is not clear how it will be possible to transfer funds from Russia to Israel. However, the bank acted in a confusing and inconsistent manner, requested unnecessary information while providing information full of errors, entitling the plaintiff to compensation for the mental anguish caused by the aforementioned inconsistent conduct.