Concern is growing in Israel over the US MBS portfolio of what until recently was the country’s biggest bank by market capitalization, Hapoalim.
The best available estimates suggest that Hapoalim has about $700 million of exposure to structured investment vehicles and collateralized debt obligations, according to Terence Klingman, head of research at local investment house Excellence Nessuah. The bank has a further $3.7 billion in US residential mortgage backed securities, on which it has taken a write-down of $59 million from its capital account.
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