Israel’s Mercantile-Discount Bank has been accused of charging higher rates to Arabs than it does to Jews. An internal bank statement was recently leaked specifying a 2.5 percent interest rate on loans of 30,000 Israeli shekels ($6,382) or less for Jews and a rate of 3.5 percent for Arabs.
Bank spokesman, Menahem Dotan has denied reports of rate discrimination and insists that the statement was never released. He added, “We sent out a follow-up letter clarifying that we don’t charge different interest rates. We are the leading bank in the Arab sector, and we intend to be that for a very long time,” reported JPost.
Mercantile-Discount Bank is one of Israel's seven largest banks according to assets, and the sixth largest bank in terms of the number of branches. The bank has over 70 branches throughout Israel, of which 30 are in Arab population centers. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
