The Bank of Israel announced the allocation of unique participant identification codes to two nonbank payment service providers, Okoora Trade Flow Ltd. and Gama Management and Settlement Ltd., as they work to connect to Israel’s payment systems. The identification code, currently referred to as a “bank code”, consists of two characters and is used to uniquely identify each participant in the Israeli financial system. The Bank of Israel assigned code 92 to Okoora Trade Flow and code 94 to Gama Management and Settlement; together with the appropriate licence from the relevant regulator, the codes enable the firms to be identified by other payment system participants and to allocate payment account numbers to customers. The step forms part of the Bank of Israel’s broader measures to open access for nonbank participants, support competition in payments and reduce fintechs’ reliance on banks.