British Mandate era The Mizrahi Bank was founded by the
World Mizrahi Movement in 1923, with the aim of providing financial assistance and serving as a financial instrument for the enterprises of individuals and institutions belonging to the Mizrahi Organization. In addition, the bank was entrusted with the mission of serving as a national public bank for the entire Jewish community in the
Yishuv. In 2005, United Bank Mizrahi and Tefahot Mortgage Bank merged, and since then the bank has been called "Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltd." or "Mizrahi-Tefahot". by the
Mizrachi movement and later merged with Bank
Hapoel HaMizrachi to form Bank Mizrahi HaMeuhad (United Mizrachi Bank). In November 2017, Mizrahi Tehafot Bank agreed to buy
Union Bank of Israel for US$400 million, thereby consolidating its position as the third largest Israeli bank. On 12 February 2020, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot was listed on a
database of 112 companies compiled by the
United Nations implicated in helping to further
Israeli settlement activity in the
West Bank and
Golan Heights, an activity considered
illegal under international law. On 5 July 2021,
Norway's largest pension fund
KLP said it would divest from Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, alongside 15 other business entities implicated in the report, over the UN's fingering of what it asserted were "banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements and their activities" in the occupied territories. == Subsidiaries ==