Digital bank One Zero cutting 10% of workforce in Israel as it prepares to expand to Europe
Amnon Shashua’s digital bank is setting up operations in Italy in partnership with Generali. Current CEO Gal Bar Dea will leave his role and take charge of the international expansion. Simultaneously, the bank plans to streamline its operations in Israel, including the layoff of 30-40 employees
Digital bank One Zero is expanding its reach to Italy while optimizing its operations in Israel. Calcalist has learned that the bank, controlled by Prof. Amnon Shashua, is poised to sign an agreement with the Italian bank Generali to establish a digital bank in Italy. A memorandum of understanding has already been signed between the parties, and the digital bank will be built on One Zero's technological infrastructure.
As part of this expansion, Gal Bar Dea will step down as the CEO of One Zero in Israel and oversee the planned international expansion. Eyal Gafni, currently Chief Finance and Strategy Officer, will assume the role of CEO in Israel.
Simultaneously, the bank plans to streamline its operations in Israel, including layoffs of 30-40 employees in operational divisions and headquarters. A new retail division will be established to integrate the operations and existing customer divisions, while the accounting division will merge with the finance division. Concurrently, 80 employees will be recruited for the development of activities in Italy, most of them in Italy.
In preparation for entry into Italy, One Zero applied to the Bank of Israel for structural separation. Pending approval, the One Zero group will own the Israeli bank managed by Gafni, while the group will also own a technology company responsible for the bank's technological activities and products in Italy, led by Bar Dea.
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Generali is the third-largest private bank in Italy, managing approximately 85 billion euros. The joint venture aims to ultimately recruit over 100 employees in Italy, with an initial investment of $40-50 million from both Generali and One Zero. The project is expected to commence in mid-2024 and conclude within a year.
One Zero had planned to embark on another funding round, but due to the war ultimately settled for a $30 million investment from existing shareholders, led by Shashua. The bank still plans to embark on another round in 2024. The bank has received investments totaling $200 million so far and claims 86,000 customers, projecting an average annual revenue of NIS 600 per customer by the end of 2023. The bank aims for profitability within two years, with full financial statements anticipated in 2024, following partial statements released last year allowed under Bank of Israel regulations.
