Tel Aviv: ₪3bn budget surplus, AAA credit rating

Tel Aviv municipality ended its 2013 local elections year's budget, with a cash surplus of 3 billion shekel, in a report published by S&P Maalot credit ratings. The report reveals "Tel Aviv will end 2013 on a positive horizon, with an operating surplus of 3.9% of its revenues and the city's financial liquidity is high by international comparisons". Maalot approved a perfect rating (AAA) for Tel Aviv municipality and noted that financially they forecast a continued scenario for the coming years. The report showed that the municipality had cash and liquid assets of 2.9 billion shekel and managed to lower bank credit loans, while many local municipalities struggle with growing debts and high interest on credit.

Israel: the new destination for hedge fund managers

Keinan, an Israeli fund manager, was ready for the question he’s always asked when he met with investors in New York in October: Why put your money with a manager whose country Iran has threatened to obliterate? “We tell them ‘if the Iranians attack, the worst thing that can happen is you lose your money manager not your money,'” Keinan, chief executive officer of Tel Aviv-based KCPS & Company, which oversees $1 billion in assets, replied. “The notion is trade global markets with global assets and clients, but just do it from Israel because of the concentration of talent here.”