Isracard was fined NIS 675,000 since it did not issue a warning for taking loans

Isracard was fined nearly NIS 700,000, since it did not issue a warning in the publication of an advertisement encouraging the taking of loans.
On June 1st 2017, the amendment to the Banking Law came into force, obliging banking corporations to attach to the advertisement advertisements and marketing methods that encourage the taking of a loan by the customer: "Failure to meet the repayment of the loan is liable to lead to interest on arrears and execution proceedings." A similar provision was also applied to non-bank credit providers in legislation relevant to them. The law is designed to make consumers, not all of whom have financial knowledge and understanding, consider their ability to repay the loan, and to raise awareness of the economic consequences that may occur as a result of non-repayment of the loan.
The NIS 675,000 fine was imposed on Isracard due to the "Minus becomes Plus +" advertisement, which was displayed on the Company's marketing website, which could have been accessed by means of the mobile device without any warning as required. This is 750,000 NIS.
Since the Company has not been fined for the past five years and due to the importance that the Supervisor attributes to this fact, which generally indicates compliance with the law, it was decided to reduce 10% of the amount of the financial sanction.
The investigation also found that the advertisement was part of an extensive campaign by the company in which messages were incorporated into irresponsible consumers beyond the financial capabilities of the customer, and therefore the supervisor demanded that it be removed.
The current sanction is part of a comprehensive enforcement conducted by the Supervisor in the area of ​​consumer credit marketing to customers of the banking system. In December 2018, the Supervisor of Banks imposed monetary sanctions on the same subject on Discount Bank Ltd. and on Leumi Card Ltd., following an enforcement examination conducted on this subject.