(Tiper Stock Exchange) – The new tax on extra profits “is credit negative” for the sector: Moody’s experts say this in a report explaining that the Italian banking system will pay a total amount corresponding to 15% of its total net profit for 2022but the banks will still be able to close the current year with a higher result than last year.
In detail, according to the pro forma calculations on five banks which account for more than 60% of the interest margin of the Italian banking system at end 2022 (UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Bper, Banco Bpm and Mps) “the new tax will significantly reduce their net income”, with a weight of “about 15% of the system’s 2022 net profit”. Furthermore, the tax goes “in addition to a series of other constraints on the profitability of Italian banks, such as the modest lending activity or the increase in operating expenses”. Yet for 2023 “after the tax on extra profits, profitability would remain above 2022 net profit” emphasize analysts who remember how this report “does not announce a credit assessment action.”
“Italy – remembers Moody’s – it is following other European countries that have imposed similar taxes on their banking systems, such as Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Spain, for example, introduced a bank tax in November 2022 applicable in 2023 and 2024 which aims to generate approximately 1.5 billion euros a year. Unlike the Italian regime, which applies to all banks in the country, the Spanish levy applies only to banks that generated more than €800m of taxable income in 2019 or that are supervised by the European Central Bank.”