Exhibit 12.1



CERTIFICATION OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER

PURSUANT
TORULE 13a-14(a)/RULE 15d-14(a) under

the
Exchange Act



I, Guy Bernstein, certify that:



| | 1. | I have reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2012 of Formula Systems (1985) Ltd. (the “Registrant”);
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| | 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with
respect to the period covered by this report;
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| | 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in
all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods
presented in this report;
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| | 4. | The Registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls
and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined
in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Registrant and have:
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| | (a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure
controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the Registrant, including
its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
report is being prepared;
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| | (b) | Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such
internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability
of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles;
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| | (c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrant’s disclosure controls
and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
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| | (d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the Registrant’s internal
control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by the annual report that has materially affected, or
is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
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| | 5. | The Registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Registrant’s auditors
and the audit committee of the Registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
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| | (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
information; and
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| | (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the Registrant’s
internal control over financial reporting.
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|Date: May 14, 2013 | /s/ Guy Bernstein       | 
|------------------ | ----------------------- | 
|                   | Guy Bernstein           | 
|                   | Chief Executive Officer |