Yona Goshen – Gottstein

Yona Goshen–Gottstein is the head of our banking and finance department, and is recognized as one of Israel’s leading banking and finance lawyers.

With a unique background and experience in banking and regulatory regulations, Yona specializes in formulating complex transactions of all types, launching innovative financial products, supporting the establishment and growth of financial service providers, advising on all matters of banking and financial regulations and investment management, and combating money laundering.

Yona represents lenders and borrowers in major financing transactions and syndications, both local and international, including project financing, M&A financing, real estate financing, venture lending, and derivatives transactions. She provides thorough legal advice that includes mapping out the company’s needs, extensive negotiation of financing agreements, as well as handling complex financing instruments with unique expertise in derivatives and ISDA agreements. Yona is also a leading figure in credit insurance and reinsurance transactions, as well as secondary market transactions (such as participation, sale of risk, sale of credits, and securitizations).

As an expert in Israeli financial regulations, Yona advises banks, insurance companies, and credit and payment services providers in the ever-changing regulatory environment. She is a key player in assisting new players and fintech companies in the introduction and integration of embedded financing, as well as supporting innovative cooperation between financial entities.

Yona’s clients include major Israeli and international banks, government entities, public and private corporations, and domestic and foreign investors. Yona represents businesses, corporations, and government bodies before the Bank of Israel, the Israel Securities Authority, and the Capital Market Authority.

Along with extensive legal experience, Yona also brings rich and extraordinary practical experience in banking and finance. Before joining the firm, she held a variety of senior positions in the banking world, including Vice President and Director of the Central Services Division and Chief Risk Manager at UBANK, Head of the Legal Department at the Bank of Jerusalem, and Chief Legal Counsel of the First International Bank of Israel. As part of her duties, she was responsible for credit risk systems and operational systems, and played a central role in establishing the commercial infrastructure of the Bank of Jerusalem as well as establishing the risk and credit management systems at UBANK.

Yona holds an MBA in finance (graduating Summa Cum Laude), and held teaching positions in the Hebrew University executive MBA program in business law.

At the start of her career, Yona worked for 4 years at a law firm in Toronto, Canada.

Yona is recognized as one of the leading specialized attorneys in finance and banking in Israel. Individual rankings in international legal guides are based on client and colleague feedback, and Yona is described as “brilliant, with exceptional business acumen and big picture perception”.

Yona is ranked ‘Band 1’ in the Chambers international ranking guide under Banking & Finance ranking, and top tier in its Banking & Finance: Regulatory ranking, as ‘Highly Regarded’ and ‘Women Leader’ (nominated for Lawyer of the Year – Banking & Finance in the year 2025) in the IFLR1000 international ranking guide and is ranked ‘Leading Individual’ in the Legal 500 international ranking guide.

• Advised Migdal Insurance Company in a first of a kind collaboration agreement with the Bank of Jerusalem in the sum of ILS 1.7 billion, forming a unique automatic forward-looking system for co-lending in highly regulated consumer mortgage industry.
• Advised Hapoalim Bank in the sale and syndication of a real-estate financing transaction in the sum of over ILS billion.
• Advised Bank Discount as arranger and lender in the financing of a leading data-centre company in Israel of over ILS 500 million.
• Advised Migdal Insurance Company and Discount Bank in a project finance syndication for the IBC fiber optics project, totaling in ILS 1.4 billion, which enable accelerating deployment of IBC’s fiber optic network in Israel.
• Advised Navitas Petroleum Limited Partnership in several separate project financing agreements, including of its off-shore gas field Shenandoah in the gulf of Mexico, as well advising in local mezzanine and in the  issue of bond, in the aggregated amount of over 2 billion US dollars.
• Advised Azorim Living, a public real-estate fund in Israel, in an investment, cooperation and rea-estate financing agreements with Migdal Insurance with regard to its rental apartment construction project, in the amount of over ILS 400 million.
• Advised Numora Bank in a financing grated to subsidiaries of the Delek Group, a major Israeli public company.
• Advised We-Check, a credit fintech in Israel from the outset of its operation to a multi – million company, including formation, receipt of a credit provider’s license, investment agreements, setting up legal and loan agreements infrastructure, private securitization and more.