"Italy’s rightwing coalition has surprised markets by announcing a 40 per cent “windfall” tax on bank profits generated by higher interest rates, sending shares in the country’s lenders tumbling.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has been critical of banks for failing to pass on interest rate rises to small savers, even as they raise lending rates...
The 40 per cent tax, which was approved in a cabinet meeting late on Monday night alongside a flurry of other last-minute measures, will be applied to the net interest income generated from the gap between banks’ lending and deposit rates...
The European Central Bank has raised rates by 4.25 percentage points since last summer, increasing the benchmark deposit rate from -0.5 per cent to 3.75 per cent.The one-off levy, due by the end of June 2024, will only apply if a bank’s net interest income in 2022 exceeded the level recorded in 2021. The measure must secure parliamentary approval within 60 days to take effect.
Italy’s five largest banks have reported aggregate profits of €10.5bn in the first half of 2023, up 64 per cent from a year earlier, according to rating agency DBRS Morningstar. Performance has been buoyed by higher net interest, resilient net fees and strong cost control, it said."
FT.com
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has been critical of banks for failing to pass on interest rate rises to small savers, even as they raise lending rates...
The 40 per cent tax, which was approved in a cabinet meeting late on Monday night alongside a flurry of other last-minute measures, will be applied to the net interest income generated from the gap between banks’ lending and deposit rates...
The European Central Bank has raised rates by 4.25 percentage points since last summer, increasing the benchmark deposit rate from -0.5 per cent to 3.75 per cent.The one-off levy, due by the end of June 2024, will only apply if a bank’s net interest income in 2022 exceeded the level recorded in 2021. The measure must secure parliamentary approval within 60 days to take effect.
Italy’s five largest banks have reported aggregate profits of €10.5bn in the first half of 2023, up 64 per cent from a year earlier, according to rating agency DBRS Morningstar. Performance has been buoyed by higher net interest, resilient net fees and strong cost control, it said."
FT.com