Instead of paying a tax on surplus
profits banks will be have the option of "allocating an amount
equal to two and a half times the tax to a non-distributable
reserve", according to a draft government amendment to its
controversial "assets" decree currently before the Senate,
sources said on Saturday.
This reserve is to be considered "among the elements of primary
tier 1 capital", the draft continues.
The government has also reportedly changed the way the windfall
tax will be calculated.
According to the draft amendment that is to be deposited in the
Senate in the coming days, the tax will be calculated "by
applying a rate of 40% on the interest margin" in the 2023
financial year "that exceeds by at least 10% the same margin" in
the 2021 financial year.
In the original decree the tax was calculated on the basis of
the 2022 and 2023 budgets and different rates applied.
Lastly, the government has reportedly raised the cap on the
windfall tax from 0.1% to 0.26% "of the total amount of
individual risk exposure" rather than on total assets as in the
original formulation, meaning that treasury bonds are excluded
from the levy.
On Wednesday Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani
said the government was working on a compromise on the windfall
tax that it is imposing on surplus profits made this year by the
country's lenders following the
ECB's interest-rate hikes in response to criticism inside and
outside the country.
Premier Giorgia Meloni's fanfare announcement in early August of
the new 40% windfall tax on banks' surplus profits caused
immediate stock market turmoil.
The losses were partially reversed after the government said the
windfall 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".
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti was also reported to be
dubious about the move, although he eventually emerged form
initial silence on it to support the measure.
Tajani, leader of late ex premier and media mogul Silvio
Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, said that if
the current text of the bill changes then FI will withdraw its
amendments to the measure, softening its impact.
"The text must be corrected so as not to penalise savers and
small banks," he said.
"We must give a signal to international markets."
Tajani was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the UN
General Assembly in New York.
Photo: Deputy Premier and leader of centre-right Forza Italia
Antonio Tajani, who has criticised the windfall tax on banks'
surplus profits.
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