Tech Advancement Is a Must to Keep Up With Crime, Says Israel Securities Authority Lawyer

In the past two years, the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) has encountered increased use of insider trading, according to Zippi Gez, the director of the ISA’s investigations, intelligence, and market surveillance department. Gez spoke Tuesday at Calcalist’s Forecasts 2020 conference, held in Tel Aviv in collaboration with Bank Hapoalim and Israel-based Psagot Investment House Ltd. Such violations do not only disregard fairness of information values, they also cause damage to a company and its reputation, she said.

The ISA is working to increase its efficiency, Gez said, and for the first time this year used a legal clause that enables the authority to end an investigation with either a settlement or a legal action without collecting all relevant data. “The rational is that the more quickly and efficiently you investigate cases, the more it creates a deterrent effect,” she said. “The market understands the boundaries of what is permitted and what is not, it creates certainty. So, in places where we are able to do that, we do.”

The authority is aware of the fact that crimes are becoming more sophisticated thanks to technology, and is using advanced artificial intelligence technologies to close the gap, Gez said. However, while the ISA has many judicial tools, such as arrest, the ability to search with or without a warrant, and court-approved wiretapping, she personally believes in restraint, she said. “There is always an amorphic pendulum between an investigation and finding out the truth so that the market will be legal and fair, and remembering that there are still people on the other side and you have to maintain their rights and dignity. The day I become desensitized to this, I will leave the position.”