Banks opt out of windfall tax, put funds into reserve

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 9 - Italy's main banks have decided almost unanimously to avoid paying the government's new windfall tax on extra profits by opting to allocate 2.5 times the amount due to a non-distributable reserve, depriving the Treasury of a total revenue of approximately 1.8 billion euro.
    Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, Banco Bpm, Mps, Bper, Popolare di Sondrio, Credem, and Mediobanca have all decided to avail themselves of the measure introduced in an amendment presented by centre-right government coalition partner Forza Italia (FI) to the controversial decree approved in August in order to "reassure the markets" following stock market turmoil.
    It is also likely that BNL, Credit Agricole and the many institutions belonging to Italy's consolidated cooperative credit system will follow suit.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni's fanfare announcement in early August of a new 40% windfall tax on banks' surplus profits caused immediate investor concern.
    The government subsequently tried to reassure the markets by saying the tax would be capped at 0.1% of institutes' assets, but skepticism remained, with Moody's saying the measure is "credit negative" and the Financial Times describing the move as "disastrous" and the government's "biggest blunder so far".
    FI then presented an amendment to the bill allowing banks to strengthen their capital rather than paying the tax, which Meloni said aimed to redress an "imbalance" resulting from the European central Bank's interest-rate hikes. (ANSA).