Ruth Plato-Shinar is a full professor of Banking Law and Financial Regulation
She is the author of the book "The Banks' Fiduciary Duty" (2010, in Hebrew), on which a few important precedents of the Israeli Supreme Court are based. Her book "Banking Regulation in Israel: Prudential Regulation vs. Consumer Protection" (Wolters Kluwer, 2016), has invoked high interest among regulators and policy makers, and was translated into Mandarin. She co-edited the book "Fiduciary Duties in the Israeli Law" (2016, in Hebrew), and published dozens of articles in prominent law reviews.
Ruth's body of work projects a strong consumer protection approach, recognizing the need for a wider protection for banking customers. She stresses the huge disparity of power between the bank and the average customer, and calls for curbing the banks' financial and political clout by imposing strict ethical norms on the banks in their relationship with their customers. Her studies have bestowed upon her a few prizes and grants, including a special award of the Canadian Government for her contribution to developing the social responsibility of banks.
Ruth has been invited as a visiting scholar to leading institutions, such as Harvard Law School, Kings College London, UCL London, The Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Max Planck Institute for Private Law, and more.
She is a member of the Advisory Board at the Asian Institute for International Financial Law, Hong Kong University; a member of the Advisory Council at the Center for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) in Queen Mary University, London; and a Board member of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law.
Ruth is a frequently invited speaker in academic symposia and professional conferences. As the Director of the Center for Banking Law, which she established at the Netanya Academic College, she has organized numerous conferences on banking and financial issues that were in the spotlight of public debate.
Ruth holds several public positions. She is the Advisory Committee Chairperson of the Commissioner of Financial Service Providers; the Deputy Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of the Supervisor of Capital Markets Insurance and Savings; a member of the Advisory Committee of the Governor of the Bank of Israel; and a member of the License Committee of the Supervisor of Banks. Formerly she served as the Public Representative on the Board of the Government Class Actions Fund, and as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Minister of Finance.
Prof. Plato-Shinar devotes a portion of her time for public activity and community affairs. She is a member of the Public Committee of Maale (a ranking body for corporate social responsibility); and a member of the Academic Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Ethics.
Selected Publications
Monographs
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, Banking Regulation in Israel: Prudential Regulation vs. Conduct of Business Regulation (Walters Kluwer, 2016).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, The Bank's Fiduciary Duty: The Duty of Loyalty
(The Israel Bar Publishing House, 2010, in Hebrew).
Book Editing
* Fiduciary Duties in the Israeli Law
(Ruth Plato-Shinar and Joshua Segev, eds., 2016, in Hebrew).
Chapters in Books
* "Banking Regulation in Israel – Principles and Methods" in "Regulation in Israel: Values, Effectiveness, Methods"
(Itzhak Galnur & Eyal Tevet, eds., Edward Elgar, forthcoming in 2020)
* "Can the Twin Peaks Model of Financial Regulation Serve as a Model for Israel?" in The Cambridge Handbook of Twin Peaks Financial Regulation
(Andrew Godwin and Andrew Schmulow, eds., Cambridge University Press, forthcoming in 2020)
* "Law and Ethics: The Bank's Fiduciary Duty towards Retail Customers in Research Handbook on Ethics in Banking and Finance 214-236
(William Blair, Rosa Lastra and Costanza Russo, eds., Edward Elgar, 2019)
* "The Role of Political Economy in Designing Banking Regulation: The Israeli Bank Fees Reform as a Test Case" in The Political Economy of Financial Regulation 189-218
(Emilios Avgouleas and David C. Donald, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2019)
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "Banking Regulation in Israel – Systemic Stability vs. Consumer Protection" in State Responsibility, the Boundaries of Privatization, and Regulation
(Itzhak Galnur & Eyal Tevet, eds., the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, 2019, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "Thoughts about the Proper Boundaries for the Bank's Fiduciary Duty – Should the Bank Act as a Guardian for the Customer?"
in Fiduciary Duties in the Israeli Law 107-130 (Ruth Plato-Shinar and Joshua Segev, eds., Nevo Publishing House, 2016, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "Cross-Border Banking: Reconceptualizing Bank Secrecy"
in Reconceptualizing Global Finance and its Regulation 236-249 (R. Buckley, E. Avgouleas, D. Arner, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2016).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, Rolf Weber, "Consumer Protection through Soft Law in an Era of Global Financial Crisis"
in The Changing Landscape of Global Financial Governance and the Role of Soft Law 233-257 (Friedl Weiss & Armin Kammel, eds., Brill Martinus Nijhoff, 2015).
Articles
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "The New Israeli Law on Payment Services: Towards a New World of Digital Payments", 35 BFLR 351-382 (2020).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "Financial Consumer Protection in the Post Financial Crisis Era: Can the American FCPB Serve as a Model for other Jurisdictions?"
54 Texas Int Law J 171 (2019).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "The Sale of Bank Loan Portfolios to Non-Bank Entities in light of the Bank's Fiduciary Duty", The Jerusalem Online Law Review (2019).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "Regulatory Shaming: Can it Serve as an Enforcement Tool in the Banking Field?"
Law & Business Review, Special Issue on Shaming (forthcoming in 2020, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "The Right to Financial Privacy: A Disappearing Era" 2 Law Society and Culture 199-229 (2019, in Hebrew).
* Michal Ofer-Zfoni, Ruth Plato-Shinar, "On Failure of Consideration and Holding in Due Course – an Opportunity to Correct Legal Anachronism"
12 Netanya Academic College Law Review 205-249 (2017, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, Keren Borenstein-Nativ, "Misconduct Costs of Banks – The Meaning Behind the Figures" 32 BFLR 495-528 (2017).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "The Transformation in the Guarantor's Status – From the Case of Lippart until Today"
Honorarium – Articles in Honour of Justice Mazza 833-910 (2015, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "Banking (Service to Customer) Law 1981; On the Absence of a Fiduciary Duty" 5 Hukim – Journal on Legistation 179-236 (2013, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "The Banking Contract as a Special Contract – The Israeli Model" 29 Touro Law Review 721-746 (2013).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "The Task Force's Payments Systems Review Report: an Outsider's View" 53 Canadian Business Law Journal 215-232 (2012).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, "The Bank's Fiduciary Duty under Israeli Law: Is there a need to transform it from an Equitable Principle into a Statutory Duty?"
39 Common Law World Review 219-245 (2012).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, The Bank's Duty of Disclosure – Towards a New Model 27 Banking & Finance Law Review 427-444 (2012).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, Marcia Gelpe, "Lenders’ Liability for Environmental Damages in the Absence of Statutory Regulation – Lessons from the Israeli Model: Part 1"
5 Law and Financial Markets Review 367-379, 458-466 (2011).
* Aviva Geva, Ruth Plato-Shinar, "Ethical Code – Does it Add Anything to Banking Regulation?" 27 Bar-Ilan Law Studies 261-313 (2011, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, Aviva Geva, "The Bank's Fiduciary Duty – The Israeli Model" 10 Law & Business Review 393-430 (2010, in Hebrew).
* Ruth Plato-Shinar, Rolf Weber, "Three Models of the Bank's Fiduciary Duty, 2 Law and Financial Markets Review 422-438 (2008).
