Though I would not attempt a post mortem of why RBS had failed to take off, let me share that our internal assessments showed that the banking system was not really ready for the introduction of RBS when we first attempted it in 2003–04.
For example, indexed interests on mortgages have fallen from an average of about 6 percent in 2003 to an average of about 4 percent currently. Now, just prior to the approval of the 2008 budget by the Knesset, and just after the government set its budget targets for next year, proposals are being made to abandon those targets.