Business brief
Palestinian Banking Ties Extended; Ormat Signs Google AI Power Deal
Israeli commercial lenders postpone severing West Bank clearing channels under regulatory pressure, while dual-listed Ormat redefines its geothermal fleet as AI infrastructure.
Business
Israeli commercial banks extended critical Palestinian clearing services under regulatory pressure — averting a monetary freeze across West Bank supply chains while forcing state indemnity guarantees.
BackgroundCorrespondent banking relationships allow Palestinian commercial banks to clear shekel-denominated trade transactions through the Israeli financial system. Hapoalim and Discount Bank sought to exit the arrangement over growing anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legal risks.
- Bank Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank postponed plans to cut correspondent banking channels originally set to terminate on September 1.
- The decision followed urgent talks between the Bank of Israel, the Finance Ministry, and Western diplomats seeking to prevent liquidity paralysis across the West Bank.
- The correspondent network processes more than ₪20 billion ($5.4 billion) in annual payments covering essential food, energy, and industrial imports.
- Commercial lenders and state officials are negotiating government indemnity guarantees to shield Israeli banks from potential international legal liability.
Business
Ormat is converting its legacy geothermal energy footprint into high-margin AI infrastructure — capturing tech hyperscaler premiums for 24/7 clean baseload power.
BackgroundDual-listed on the TASE and NYSE, Ormat develops and operates geothermal power plants globally. Data center operators face growing power grid constraints as generative AI workloads expand electricity consumption far beyond solar and wind capacity limits.
- Ormat Technologies secured a major power purchase agreement to supply 150MW of continuous baseload geothermal energy to Google data centers in Nevada.
- The agreement positions Ormat's deep geothermal drilling expertise directly toward tech hyperscalers that require 24/7 non-intermittent clean power.
- Deutsche Bank disclosed a new $42 million equity position in Ormat as institutional demand for AI-linked energy infrastructure expands globally.
- Ormat is simultaneously testing advanced enhanced geothermal system pilots alongside energy services providers SLB and Sage Geosystems.
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