Israel's biggest money managers say it's time to buy bank stocks

Tel Aviv

ISRAEL'S biggest money managers are touting the nation's banking shares as the cheapest valuations in a year, outweighing the threat to lenders' profits from government efforts to boost competition in the industry.

Psagot Provident Funds & Pension Ltd and Meitav DS Investments Ltd are recommending investors buy Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd and other local lenders, including Bank Hapoalim Ltd, that have outperformed global peers in the past year. The price- to-book ratio for the five members in the Tel Aviv Banking Index was 0.73 on Monday, below its 10-year average of 0.95 and compared with 1 for the MSCI World Bank Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.