Esther Levanon, the CEO of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, will step down at the end of the year.

A spokesperson said the decision came “at her own request”.

A successor has yet to be announced.

Ms Levanon, who joined the TASE in 1986, lobbied for the inclusion of the exchange on Morgan Stanley’s European index. She told the JC that the decision to bar Israel had cost the country up to $2 billion.

She is responsible for extending the exchange’s trading hours by one hour last month, to encourage Israel-European trade.

She said: “By aligning TASE trading hours with those of leading European exchanges, we believe it will promote higher trading volume, encourage arbitrage trading by local and foreign investors and improve liquidity.”

TASE trade was down by 44 per cent between 2010 and 2012.

After 28 years at the exchange, she said: "It's time to say goodbye and leave it to others.

"Everyone wants to leave when volumes are at $4 billion and the economy is booming - but life doesn't go like that."