Israeli cybersecurity entrepreneur Nir Zuk has announced plans to acquire California's Liberty Bank and transform it into a bank fully powered by artificial intelligence technologies he developed at Esh Bank in Israel. Zuk has filed a request to purchase a significant stake that would make him the bank's largest shareholder, pending approval.

The acquisition is being coordinated alongside a separate share purchase by Betsy and Daniel Cohen, founders of a special purpose acquisition company called Bancorp. Financial details of the transactions were not disclosed. Zuk also intends to appoint senior executives from Esh Bank, including its founder and chief executive Yuval Aloni and former Bank of Israel deputy governor Dr. Nadine Bodo-Trachtenberg, to leadership roles in Liberty Bank's holding company.

The move follows a recent agreement to sell Esh Bank to credit card company Isracard and comes amid layoffs at Esh's global technology subsidiary, which develops artificial intelligence based digital banking systems. Liberty Bank of California holds 440 million dollars in assets and operates branches in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area. The acquisition could mark Esh's first direct banking infrastructure presence in the United States.