Italy squeezes the banks. Giorgia Meloni’s Executive announced last Monday, by surprise, a new tax of 40% on the profit of the entities. An extraordinary rate that will be applied in 2023 and whose aim is to finance aid for the increase in the mortgage rates of citizens and companies, as well as tax reductions. According to the first calculations, apart from a Government that did not want to enter figures, 2,000 to 3,000 million will be collected.
The measure caught against own and strangers. It was included in the last decree before the holidays, mixed with other measures. The unexpected was embodied in a sharp fall in the banks’ quotations. The main Italian institution, Intesa Sanpaolo, lost 8.7%, and the second, Unicredit, 6%. All were dyed red. Mediolanum (-6%), BPM (-9%), Banca Generali (-3.1%), FinecoBank (-9.9%)… According to a Bloomberg analysis, BPER and Monte dei Paschi would be among the most affected starting from the capital – and were the most punished because they fell more than 10% on the stock market -, while Unicredit and Mediobanca would come out with less macadaurs.
There was a contagion effect that impacted the rest of Europe. The Eurostoxx 600 Banks fell just under 3%. In the case of the Ibex 35, banks were also among the most punished. The selective left 0.6%, but entities such as Santander (-2.7%) and Unicaja (-2.5%) were the red light in Madrid.
“This is a rule of social equality,” said Matteo Salvini, Minister of Infrastructure, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers approved the tax. Without concrete figures, he claimed that the collection will be in the billions, considering the recent record profits. “It is a rule of common sense to support those who have difficulties”, he said later from X – former Twitter -. Rome defends the rate due to the continued increase in rates from Frankfurt, headquarters of the ECB, which has improved the business of the entities but has punished families and companies, without in return increasing the remuneration of their deposits. Repeated criticism in those lands: Meloni had already shown belligerence with the central bank a month and a half ago. He then called the prescription to raise rates to combat high inflation in the Eurozone “simplistic” and “a remedy more harmful than the disease”.
The application will depend on which of the two options raised collects more. It will be activated when the interest margin – the interest charged minus that paid by the banks – exceeds 5% in the result of 2022 or 10% in 2023. The tax will be calculated on everything that exceeds these percentages. The small print indicates that it cannot exceed 25% of the value of the entity’s net assets and that it cannot be deducted.
The Italian tax has similarities with what has been imposed in Spain. In the national case, however, the rate is 4.8%, it is imposed for 2023 and 2024 and is not applied to the profits obtained, but to the sum of the interest margin and net commissions. Scales have also been established, since only banks with annual revenues of more than 800 million euros pay it. The Executive of Pedro Sánchez calculated a collection of 1,500 million euros for each financial year. In May, Podemos had considered doubling taxation and allocating it to mortgagees in conflict, similar to what has been approved for Italy now. While the entities are paying for it, they have already gone through it en bloc.
The increased pressure on institutions has also reached the United Kingdom, where they have been asked to increase the remuneration of deposits. In the Baltic countries, measures have also been taken to tax corporate profits more.
