The Bank of Israel will allow licensed non-bank payment service providers to leave shekel balances at the central bank overnight, a change designed to widen access to supervised payment systems and reduce dependence on commercial banks.
Until now, non-bank PSPs had to transfer balances out of the Zahav real-time gross settlement system to banking corporations at the end of each business day and return them the following morning. The central bank said the new policy would reduce operational and settlement risks while supporting competition in the payments market.