The new bank tax approved on Thursday in Congress will find a response in the courts. The association of banks AEB yesterday doubted the constitutionality of the tax and informed its associates that they have “sufficient” elements to appeal it. Bankinter will not think twice and announced that it will raise the battle “the day after” receiving the tax settlement. BBVA, Santander and Sabadell assure that the measure will have negative effects on the economy. Of the old savings banks, CaixaBank and Ibercaja will study whether they go to court.
The tax, approved together with that of the energy companies and the great fortunes in the superplenum on Thursday, taxes the interest margins and commissions of banks that enter more than 800 million euros a year in Spain with 4.8%. The royal decree-law prohibits, against the criteria of the ECB, its transfer to the final consumer. In addition, in the opinion of the banks, it disguises a rise in Corporate Tax through a non-tax asset benefit.
The banks, which have just closed an agreement with the Government to help vulnerable mortgagees, came out yesterday in a whirlwind against the tax during a conference organized by KPMG and Expansión. The CEO of Bankinter, María Dolores Dancausa, directly described it as “unfair, discriminatory and confiscatory”.
“There are many reports that show legal doubts and even point to the unconstitutionality of this tax,” said the president of the AEB, Alejandra Kindelán. “There is sufficient legal basis” to denounce. The association cannot raise the appeal on its own as the tax is not charged to it, but its messages are very faithful to the position of the banks, as it already demonstrated in the recent mortgage agreement.
The CEO of BBVA, Onur Genç, also alluded yesterday to the effects that, in his opinion, the tax will have on the economy. “It’s going to affect growth,” he said. The tax, as is the case with energy companies, will not affect the income of entities outside of Spain.
This nuance reduces the impact on the two banks with the highest market capitalization, which are Santander and BBVA, whose international exposure is greater. Jefferies analysts calculate that it will reduce CaixaBank’s annual profit by 461 million euros, Santander’s by 336 million, BBVA’s by 279 million and Sabadell’s by 171 million. The Government says that it will raise 3,000 million in two years.
Yesterday, the CEO of Santander Spain, Antonio Simoe, was also very critical, describing the tax as “very bad for the competitiveness and confidence of investors in Spain.” “There is quite a consensus, even the ECB says so, that it is not the best way to combat inflation,” he stated, before considering that it is “bad for the Spanish economy, for companies and for families.”
The CEO of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortázar, indicated that, with regard to tax, his entity is going to go “little by little”. “We have to see the final text” and from there, “if we consider that it is not in accordance with the Law, our obligation would be to appeal it.”
The CEO of Sabadell, César González-Bueno, was direct and alluded to “important problems” in the process, including the absence of a report from the Council of State. “It is the problem of legislating quickly and skipping procedures. The tax seems wrong to us, obviously, ”he said. “The motivation for a tax that has been built very badly and very quickly is not very well known.”
Víctor Iglesias, CEO of Ibercaja, considered “very likely” that the entity will go to court “if it comes out in the current terms.” The banks cannot denounce the law before the Constitutional Court, but they can appeal the quarterly liquidations of the tax until a judge is forced to raise the matter before the high court.
The governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, asked the banks to “use the increase in profits that are taking place in the short term to increase their resilience” in the face of the difficulties that are looming over the economy.
The president of KPMG, Juanjo Cano, claimed that the “regulatory and tax decisions that are adopted in this uncertain and volatile context do not compromise the results of the entities.” These measures are “key to its solvency and, therefore, to the stability of the financial system and the economy.”
