Dan Dankner, the embattled chief executive officer of Bank Hapoalim, resigned Monday under pressure from Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer. Fischer targeted Dankner weeks ago in an unprecedented campaign against Bank Hapoalim and its owner, billionaire Shari Arison. Arison lined up squarely behind Dankner, publicly accusing Fischer of improper intervention in her bank's affairs, but Fischer kept up the pressure. Fischer left a top position at Citigroup in New York to become governor of the Bank of Israel in 2005. Dankner was set to leave his position in two or three months. Israel TV's veteran economic affairs analyst, Oded Shahar, however, noted that Fischer has not made the content of his complaints about Dankner public, and no one knows exactly why he wanted Dankner ousted. Last year the bank listed a write-off of more than $1 billion from its involvement in American financial markets.
