The story
History and milestones
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was established in 1953. Even prior to this, commencing in 1935, securities trading was carried out in the Land of Israel and, afterwards, in the State of Israel at the mandate-period Anglo-Palestine Bank (today, Bank Leumi). The trade was conducted at the bank, in the office of Mordechai Pinchas Hasson, an Israeli banker who was one of the founders of the Exchange Bureau of Securities and the CEO of Bank Leumi. In the office that served as the stock exchange, daily trading within the framework of the "Exchange Bureau of Securities" lasted for just one hour. Among those that conceived the original idea were bankers who had immigrated from Germany such as Max Kollenscher and his brother Leo. In 1968, TASE activity was regulated by law and the Israel Securities Authority, which supervises TASE activity, was established.
In 1983, TASE was hit by the bank stock crisis, during which the share price of Israel's four largest banks collapsed – resulting in the state's nationalization of the banks and a third of the public's investment in them being wiped out. In the same year, TASE moved from its premises at 113 Allenby Street to a building at 54 Ahad Ha'Am Street, Tel Aviv. In 1993, trade in derivatives commenced. In 1999, TASE brought down the curtain on the trading floors era and completed the changeover to fully automated trading making use of a "continuous" trading system (TACT). In 2000, the Knesset passed Amendment No. 21 to the Securities Law, which makes it easier for companies whose shares are listed in the United States, to also list in Tel Aviv ("dual listing"). In July 2005, dual listing was expanded to include companies listed on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market and the Nasdaq Small Cap Market. Today, tens of dual-listed companies are traded on TASE (being listed in Tel Aviv and on overseas exchanges, in parallel). In 2005, market makers began operating on TASE. In 2007, the annual volume of securities and convertibles hit a new record of NIS 593.2 billion.
Since 2008, after the 2008 financial crisis, the tightening of the regulatory regime in which TASE operates (by the Israel Securities Authority, the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Division at the Israeli Ministry of Finance, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, etc.) and other factors, the number of trading participants and trading volumes have become less significant. In 2012, the annual volume of securities and convertibles amounted to just NIS 265.1 billion (a 54% decrease) – the lowest volume since 2004.
In 2016, TASE launched an analysis project for high-tech companies, within the framework of which the international research company, Frost and Sullivan, publishes informational and financial analyses regarding technology and biomed companies that are listed on TASE.
In 2017, the TASE indices underwent a reform – "the diffusion reform", which had several objectives, including: improving the stability of the TASE indices, broadening the sectoral diffusion within the various indices, setting more stringent threshold terms for the flagship indices and easing the threshold terms for the other indices, encouraging foreign investors to invest in the TASE indices, significantly increasing the free float rate for the shares included in the flagship indices, fully realizing the potential of small and medium company shares, and enlarging the infrastructure for launching new indices. At the beginning of 2017, the Knesset passed the second and third readings of a law for TASE's demutualization, which created the outline for turning it into a for-profit company.
In April 2017, the Knesset passed an amendment of the Securities Law enabling changes to TASE's ownership structure; in September 2017 the District Court ratified the TASE demutualization arrangement, enabling changes to TASE's ownership structure, whereby TASE became a for-profit company, while separating the ownership and control of TASE from membership therein. The Israel Securities Authority has regulatory oversight over TASE's operations, as well as over the Tel-Aviv Clearing House, the MAOF Clearing House and the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange Nominee Company, which are wholly owned subsidiaries of TASE.
In 2018, the Nominee Company was established as a private subsidiary of TASE. The Nominee Company is engaged in two main areas of activity: it ensures the proper and complete registration of the number of securities registered in its name (held by the public) and serves as a conduit for the transfer of payments deriving from corporate actions (such as dividends, interest) between the issuing companies and the end-holders of the securities. In August 2018, the Israel Securities Authority approved] the sale of 71.7% of TASE's shares to five groups of foreign investors. On August 1, 2019, trade in TASE shares commenced on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange.
The 2017 indices reform
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At the beginning of 2017, TASE carried out a comprehensive reform of the security indices listed on it and established new indices. Among the principal changes made by the reform was expanding the number of shares included in each index and lowering a share's maximum weighing in an index. For instance, the Tel Aviv 25 Index, which was considered TASE's flagship index was expanded from 25 to 35 shares, with its name being changed to the TA- 35 Index, accordingly. The maximum weighting for a share in the Index was reduced from 10% to 7%. One of the main objectives of the reform was to reduce the level of concentration in the indices. Since more than 70% of the Index's weighting related to just 10 shares, a sharp change in the value of just one of these would cause the Index to react dramatically, and the Index was considered to be too concentrated.
As part of the reform, new indices were created with the aim of raising investors' interest in TASE and increasing activity thereon. The new indices that were created are: the TA-BlueChip15Price, the TA-SME150 and the TA Rimon indices.
TASE members
The Israeli Stock Exchange has 23 members.
TASE's home
In 1960, TASE moved to its own premises in the "Passage" at 113 Allenby Street in Tel Aviv and, in February 1983, TASE moved premises to 54 Ahad Ha'Am Street in Tel Aviv. In 2001, a Visitors Centers was opened on the historic trading floors of the TASE building. Educational visits took place in the Visitors Center, as well as conventions and events associated with the capital market[
On July 24, 2014, TASE moved to its new home on the corner of Montefiore Street and Ahuzat Bayit Street, close to the Shalom Meir Tower. The TASE complex stands on a one and a half dunam plot that was acquired by it in 2007 at a cost of NIS 58 million and construction took five years. The 14 story building tops out at 60 meters and has 22,600 m2 of floor space. The nonstandard ratio between the number of stories and the building's height is due to the building having stories with high ceilings, such as the ground floor that rises to a height of 10 meters.
2026
In early March 2026, during the conflict with Iran, the TASE climbed sharply on its first trading day after the escalation started. The TA-35 index went up around 4.6% and the TA-125 rose roughly 4.8%, pushing both to new record levels. Defense companies, energy stocks, and banks did especially well, and the shekel gained more than 1.5% against the dollar.
From Wikipedia’s article on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4