From Transit Camp Boy to Billionaire Tycoon: The Rise of Tsadok Bino

Israeli businessman Tsadok Bino marks his birthday, looking back at one of the most remarkable success stories in the local economy. The boy who immigrated from Iraq, grew up in a transit camp, and helped his parents in their grocery store rose to become a senior banking executive and a billionaire businessman. Marking his birthday, we look back at the path that led him from a junior bank clerk to the controlling shareholder of the First International Bank of Israel (FIBI).

The Bino family fortune is estimated at approximately $1.9 billion. Today, the family, alongside partners, holds the controlling stake in the First International Bank of Israel, one of the country's five largest banks, while Bino continues to be counted among the most prominent figures in the local financial system.

From a Transit Camp to Bank CEO Without a Degree

• Tsadok Bino was born in 1944 in Basra, Iraq, to Sasson and Juliette Bino. In 1950, at the age of six, his family immigrated to Israel and settled in the Pardes Katz ma'abara. Later, the family moved to Kiryat Ono, where his father opened a small neighborhood grocery store, where young Tsadok also worked.

• Beyond working in the grocery store, Bino showed a keen interest in football, playing for Hapoel Kiryat Ono and Shimshon Tel Aviv. Following his military service in the Israeli Air Force, he was hired as a junior clerk at Bank Hapoalim, unaware that it was the start of a career that would lead him to the pinnacle of the banking system.

• Bino gradually advanced to a signatory officer and later moved to the Foreign Trade Bank, where he managed a branch. The bank subsequently merged with the First International Bank of Israel, and Bino continued to climb its ranks until he was appointed bank CEO at the age of 36.

• One of the most surprising details of his path is that Bino reached this senior position without an academic degree, his education consisting of high school studies and business administration courses. At a time when managing a bank was considered a role requiring extensive financial and academic background, this was an exceptional career trajectory.

The Deal That Full-Circled His Career

After retiring from Bank Leumi, Bino established Bino Holdings, through which he began building private activities in finance, investments, and real estate. In 1989, he became the Israeli representative of Australian-Jewish businessman Jack Liebermann, who controlled the energy company Paz Oil Company.

The partnership with Liebermann opened new horizons in the business world, but one of the most prominent moves in Bino's career came in 2003, when he acquired, alongside the Liebermann family and other partners, control of FIBI Holdings from Joseph and Moise Safra in a transaction valued at some $90 million. Through the deal, Bino became one of the controlling owners of the First International Bank of Israel, which he had managed years earlier as an employee.

As of mid-2026, FIBI Holdings holds approximately 48.34% of the shares of the First International Bank of Israel, and the Bino family is among the controlling shareholders of the holding company alongside its partners.

Billions from Paz and the Choice of Banking

Alongside his banking activities, Bino built a significant portion of his wealth through the fuel and energy company Paz Oil Company. After beginning to operate with Jack Liebermann in the late 1980s, Bino gradually acquired shares in the company. In 1999, he gained control of Paz, subsequently serving as chairman of the company for over a decade and a half.

During his tenure, Paz expanded significantly. One of the major moves was the acquisition of the Ashdod refinery in 2006 in a deal valued at about 1.5 billion NIS. That same year, Bino also led Paz's IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

However, the Mergers and Economic Concentration Law subsequently required a separation between control of significant financial entities and significant real economic corporations, forcing Bino to choose between his holding in Paz and his control of the First International Bank of Israel.

Bino chose to remain with the bank. Over the years, he gradually sold his shares in Paz, and by 2017 he ceased to be a major shareholder in the company.

Hundreds of Millions in Dividends

Even after realizing his holdings in Paz, controlling the First International Bank of Israel continued to generate substantial income for Bino and his family.

In September 2026, the bank distributed cumulative dividends of approximately 1.3 billion NIS since the beginning of the year in three tranches. Bino's reported share of the distributions was estimated at about 180 million NIS.

These figures illustrate the economic power of bank ownership and the gap between income from management and board roles versus wealth accumulated through equity ownership.

The Family Continuing the Path

Bino is married to Ora and is a father of three children—Gil, Hadar, and Daphna—all of whom are involved in the family's business activities. His eldest son, Gil Bino, serves as CEO of Bino Holdings and Chairman of FIBI Holdings, and is considered a central figure in the next generation of the family group.

Despite the wealth he has accumulated, Bino is known as a businessman who prefers to stay away from the spotlight and generally avoids coverage of his personal life. Over the years, he has been described as maintaining a lifestyle devoid of ostentation, unlike the image often associated with tycoons.

Even today, after many years at the pinnacle of the business world, Bino's story remains an anomaly in the Israeli landscape. The boy who grew up in a transit camp, worked in the family grocery store, and started out as a bank clerk without an academic degree reached the management of Bank Leumi, acquired control of the First International Bank of Israel, and built a multi-billion dollar fortune with his family.