Amnon Shashua’s digital bank is launching operations in Italy in partnership with Generali. Current CEO Gal Bar Dea will leave her role to take charge of international expansion. At the same time, the bank plans to streamline its operations in Israel, including laying off 30 to 40 employees.
Digital bank One Zero is expanding its footprint in Italy while optimizing its operations in Israel. Calcalist has learned that the bank, run by Professor Amnon Shashua, is ready to sign an agreement with Italian bank Generali to establish a digital bank in Italy. A Memorandum of Understanding has already been signed between the two parties, and the digital bank will be built on One Zero’s technology infrastructure.
As part of this expansion, Gul Bar Deer will step down as CEO of One Zero in Israel and will oversee the company’s planned international expansion. Eyal Gafni, currently the company’s chief financial and strategy officer, will become Israel’s CEO.
1 View gallery
One Zero CEO Gal Bar Dea retires.
(Photo: Abigail Woosey)
At the same time, the bank plans to streamline its operations in Israel, including laying off 30 to 40 employees in its operations and headquarters. The business department and existing customer department will be merged to create a new retail department, and the accounting department and finance department will be integrated. At the same time, 80 employees have been hired to develop its activities in Italy, most of them located in Italy.
In preparation for its entry into Italy, One Zero applied for a structural separation with the Bank of Israel. Pending approval, One Zero Group will own the Israeli bank run by Gafni, but the group will also own a technology company headed by Val Dia that will be responsible for the bank’s technology activities and products in Italy. will own it.
Generali is Italy’s third largest private bank, managing around 85 billion euros. The joint venture aims to ultimately employ more than 100 employees in Italy, with an initial investment of $40 million to $50 million from both Generali and One Zero. The project is expected to begin in mid-2024 and be completed within a year.
One Zero had planned to pursue another round of funding, but due to the war, it ultimately settled on a $30 million investment from existing shareholders led by Shashua. The bank still plans to launch another round in 2024. The bank has received a total investment of $200 million to date, has acquired 86,000 customers and expects average annual revenue per customer to be N600 by the end of 2023. The bank aims to be profitable within two years. Full financial statements are expected to be published in 2024, following partial financial statements released last year in accordance with Bank of Israel regulations.
First published: 07.01.24 18:46