Receiving Shares from the Bank
Question
Shalom.
Bank Hapoalim distributed to its customers who meet certain criteria either 100 NIS or 2 of the bank’s shares, at their choice. Is it permitted to take the shares, and is there no issue of ribit (interest) in this?
Answer
Shalom u’vracha.
One may be lenient and take the shares, and there is no issue of ribit in this.
Source
The poskim disagree whether, by purchasing a share, one becomes an owner of the company and is therefore responsible for what is done in it, or not. The main problem is the prohibition of ribit, which applies to owners of capital and is the most common issue. In this case there is room to be lenient, relying on the fact that two shares of Bank Hapoalim, worth about 130 NIS, are merely a drop in the ocean compared to the bank as a whole, and such a small amount can be viewed as not conferring the status of owner. Together with the fact that the bank has a heter iska that covers most transactions, one may be lenient.
Regarding the prohibition of ribit: strictly speaking, there certainly is delayed interest (ribit me’uheret) here, since one of the criteria was to have a balance of 1,000 NIS on specified dates in the past. A balance in the bank is a loan to the bank, and therefore receiving a gift in return is considered ribit me’uheret, which is described in Siman 160 as forbidden. Nevertheless, here the heter iska is effective. See also Chavvat Da’at, Siman 166, se’if katan 1.
