in Europe. It began investing in Israeli companies through the Israeli Company for Financing and Investment, which it had acquired. In those years, thanks to the bank's accelerated opening of branches around Israel and extension of its opening hours to the afternoon, the bank grew to become the second largest bank in Israel. At the beginning of the 1960s, the bank expanded its activity both in Israel and overseas. In 1961, for the first time in the banking industry, the investment company, Discount Investments, was founded. What's more, the bank was awarded the right to issue Diners Club credit cards and was the first bank to offer its shares to the public. In 1964, the bank was awarded the Kaplan Prize for being the first bank to computerize its operations. In the 1970s, the bank continued its momentum of growth and expansion, integration of advanced technologies and modern computer systems and improvement of customer service. In 1970, the bank acquired 50% of Barclays Bank and the name of the bank changed to Barclays-Discount. It later acquired full ownership. Additionally, Mercantile Bank was sold to Barclays-Discount Bank. In 1974, the Discountomat, Israel's first ATM was launched. In 1979, Visa Cal was founded in partnership with Bank Leumi. In 1981, the bank's virtual branch, Discount Telebank was established, making it the first banking call center in Israel and in the world. The same year, the bank also began operating its Bankonit - a mobile bank that operated for several years in the Lachish region. In 1983, "satellites" were opened for the first time in Israel, enabling customers to conduct banking transactions independently, outside of standard work hours. That same year, the bank - along with other banks - was nationalized by the Israeli government, due to the bank stock crisis. Following the 1983 Israel bank stock crisis, the bank's ownership was transferred to the government of Israel. In 1987, the Discount Group established the investment organization, Tachlit Investment House, which was engaged, among other things, in the sale of financial products, investment portfolio management and more. In the first decade of the 21st century, activity centered around privatization of the bank and the sale of the government's holdings in it. In 2004, the process of privatizing the bank began, and this was completed in 2006, with the acquisition of 26% of the bank's shares by the Bronfman-Sharan Group. That same year, shares