The period 1994 – 2000 witnessed a rapid expansion in the licensing of new banks in the Palestinian Territories . The figures in table 6 show that the number of banks operating in the Palestinian Territories has reached 21 banks with 127 branches. Dividing the current population size (3.7 million) by the number of bank branches indicate that one bank branch serves around 30,000 people. However, this figure is misleading because the majority of Palestinians live in rural areas which lack bank branches. Most of these banks are located in the big cities. All banks and bank branches were licensed by the PMA. National banks are those banks which were established locally and their headquarters is located in Palestine . Foreign banks are those banks which were licensed by the PMA to operate in Palestine but their headquarters are located outside of Palestine .
Table 6
Banks and Bank Branches Operating in PalestinianTerritories at end of 2002
Banks Branches
Region |
National |
Foreign |
Total |
National |
Foreign |
Total |
WB |
8 |
10 |
18 |
38 |
52 |
90 |
GS |
2 |
1 |
3 |
21 |
16 |
37 |
Total |
10 |
11 |
21 |
59 |
68 |
127 |
Source:- PMA (www.pma.org)
The major banks operating in Palestine are foreign banks (Jordanian) with the Arab bank being the largest in size by far. All banks operating in Palestine deal in the three currencies mentioned above. There are no limitations in transferring “clean” currency in and out of the country through these banks. Internet banking in few of these banks is already in operation. |
