The bank is the largest among Israel's mortgage lenders.

[3] The Mizrahi Bank was founded by the World Mizrahi Movement in 1923, with the aim of providing financial assistance and serving as a financial instrument for the enterprises of individuals and institutions belonging to the Mizrahi Organization.

[4] In addition, the bank was entrusted with the mission of serving as a national public bank for the entire Jewish community in the Yishuv.

[3] On 12 February 2020, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot was listed on a database of 112 companies compiled by the United Nations implicated in helping to further Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Golan Heights,[9] an activity considered illegal under international law.

[10] On 5 July 2021, Norway's largest pension fund KLP said it would divest from Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, alongside 15 other business entities implicated in the report,[11] over the UN's fingering of what it asserted were "banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements and their activities" in the occupied territories.