Budget: Bankers keep a close eye on new tax threat

Patuelli convenes the ABI Executive Committee

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The Lega’s proposal for a new 5 per cent ‘structural’ levy on banks’ profits – estimated by the proposers on the eve of the meeting to generate revenue of around 2 billion for a sector that posts annual profits of 50 billion – has not gone unnoticed by Italian bankers, as the ABI resumes its activities with a videoconference meeting of the Presiding Committee chaired by Antonio Patuelli, ahead of the Executive Committee meeting scheduled for 23 September.

There was great caution on the matter amongst the participants, who were able to hear, at Palazzo Altieri, an initial, brief outline of the Lega’s proposal. From the initial reactions, the views of those who have not forgotten the agreement reached last year between the Deputy Minister for the Economy, Maurizio Leo, and ABI Director-General Marco Elio Rottigni, following weeks of intense negotiations, which led to the inclusion in the 2025 Budget of new measures that represent, for Italian banks, an additional burden of over 10 billion over three years, of which 4.2 billion are advance payments. The measures adopted just nine months ago are now taking full effect. Monte dei Paschi’s half-yearly report, for example, revealed that the group’s four entities (MPS, Widiba, Mediobanca and Compass) paid a total extraordinary contribution of almost 150 million to release the ‘extra-profit’ reserve, as provided for in the latest Budget Law – a reserve that had been set up only the previous year and which had enabled the system to avoid paying the contribution on ‘extra profits’ that the Government had already set its sights on for 2024.

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