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Question
After my previous question I have rearranged my stock portfolio and now all my investments in Israeli companies follow the Keter list of permitted companies that do not desecrate Shabbat or take interest or have a heter iska.
However, I also have a few international stocks from other countries. Among them a British bank and a US credit card company. While they are not technically owned by Jews and dont specifically lend to Jews with interest, one cant rule out occasional ribit cases as statistically there must be Jews both among board members and customers. Does the rule that small share owners have no influence and are not genuine partners hold also in this case, so that I can keep the shares?
Answer
ב"ה
Shalom,
I had a similar question a while back and then I consulted with two prominent Rabbanim who both told me, that If the majority of the holdings are under the ownership of non- Jews, there is no issue of "Ribbit", of collecting interest. And we can rely on the fact that abroad the majority of holdings belong to non- Jews.
All the best

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