Israel Discount Bank reported a slight rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Tuesday, helped by a steep drop in its provision to protect against loan defaults and higher financing income. Discount, Israel's fourth-largest bank, earned 1.05 billion shekels ($288.5 million) in the October-December quarter, up from 919 million a year earlier. For all of 2024, Discount posted a 2% rise in net profit to 4.3 billion shekels. The bank said that given its 'solid financial results and confidence in the resilience of the core business' it will return 40% of quarterly net profit to shareholders - 30% in the form of a dividend and 10% in a share buyback, similar to what other Israeli banks have announced.