[HN] Italy approves 40% windfall tax on banks for 2023 as profits soar

Whish we could see this in other parts of the world on all type of companies (looking at you grocery giants in Canada)

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Italy has announced a one-off 40% windfall tax on local banks that have been accused of reaping billions in extra profit from rising interest rates.

“One only has to look at the banks’ first-half 2023 profits, also the result of the European Central Bank’s rate hikes, to realise that we are not talking about a few millions, but we are talking one can assume of billions,” Italy’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, told a news conference in Rome.

Marco Nicolai, an equity analyst at Jefferies, said the decision to tax the net interest margin “came out of the blue”, noting that Italy’s minister of economy and finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, “publicly poured water on this idea in the recent past”.

Jefferies estimated that Italy’s 10 largest publicly listed banks could end up paying €4.9bn as a result of the windfall tax, although the total figure was unclear.

The industry body UK Finance said banks based in London already paid a “significantly higher rate of tax than those in other financial centres like Dublin and New York”.

The new consumer duty – which came into force last week – gives regulators the tools they need to take action where this isn’t happening.”

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