Text size  Not a few capital market animals in Tel Aviv raised
eyebrows this week when the learned that in March 2008, when
Bank Hapoalim was forced to sell its portfolio of mortgage-based
derivatives at a huge loss, it chose to do the multi-billion
dollar deal not through a major investment firm but through a
bitty brokerage called ISP Financial Services.  ISP, located in
Zurich, is owned by two Israelis, Itay Strum and Roy Tal.
Hapoalim was the only Israeli bank to leap into the market of
high-risk mortgage-based derivatives.  To recap, in 2007 and
2008 Bank Hapoalim bought a large amount of American bonds
backed by mortgages taken out by American citizens. It was
investing its own money, not that of clients. However, the
volume of transactions was enormous, even in the terms of a big
Israeli bank: Hapoalim invested $3.7 billion in these
instruments.  Other Israeli banks also dabbled in mortgage-based
securities, but none of the others leaped into the pool with
anything like that magnitude.  Toward the end