A relatively small number of soldiers in the reserve needed to take advantage of special loans and benefits offered to them, said Bank Hapoalim head of retail and SME credit Jacob Perchenok. Those who needed special loans tended to be small business owners, for whom government solutions were slow to arrive.
Hapoalim Bank, along with other banks in Israel and partially under the supervision of Israel’s central bank, offered a number of benefits to Israeli soldiers on reserves. Benefits included extensions on repayment of existing loans, loans offered without interest payments and more.
While the bank did not reveal exact figures, it said only a few thousand of its customers needed to take advantage of these special benefits.
A major reason these benefits were offered was to provide immediate liquidity. to the reservists, especially for those who needed to keep small businesses afloat. Reservists who work for larger companies tend to be in good shape, Perchenok said.
“In November and December, businessmen, especially [small business owners], were recruited into reserves. His business was paralyzed and, at first, the State was not present and did not grant sufficiently large subsidies. We understood that these people needed funds available in the short term,” Perchnok explained.
Some reservists urgently need such solutions.
While not many reservists needed these solutions, many of those who did needed them urgently. “Every person like that is someone who will lose their business if you don’t help them,” he explained.
In addition to offering loans, during the first two months of warThe bank was “very tolerant of all kinds of abnormal financial behavior because we knew that people on the reserves didn’t have time to pay attention to [their finances]”Perchnok explained. An example of this was that the bank did not reject checks from reservists during this time.
“After about three or four months, the State was able to offer solutions to the majority of reservists, but it did not know and does not know how to help some sectors of the population,” said Perchnok, explaining that some businessmen with variable incomes or who are property owners of new businesses are examples of those whom the government has trouble helping because they do not have a typical income history.
The bank was able to respond quickly to the outbreak of war thanks to the experience gained during the coronavirus pandemic when they tracked customer accounts to monitor needs. This method gave the bank a good idea of the impact of the war on its customers and helped them adapt solutions. The bank had a variety of tools available to help reservists almost immediately, Perchenok said.
Now, the bank is seeing a slow return to normal, with fewer reservists extending loan deferrals or needing help. However, the bank is willing to help and is preparing for the possibility of war in the north.
“We will make sure we meet the needs of all of our customers as they arise, especially for reservists, but for all of our customers,” he said.