The shadow of the extra tax on credit: thud of the banks in Piazza Affari

The shadow of the extra tax on credit: thud of the banks in Piazza Affari


MILAN. Still tensions in the banking sector. Yesterday the sub-fund suffered again on the Stock Exchange, with the EuroStoxx Banks European index losing more than 2.5% over the course of the day. Even heavier was the trend of the Italian basket which reached a low of over three percentage points. Piazza Affari then closed the session by limiting the losses to -0.30% for the FtseMib but the comeback was pushed by the oil companies while the financials showed declines above 3%. Renewed worries about the sector fueled yesterday by fresh woes for the US First Republic Bank prompted traders to sell. The regional institute, after the bad news that arrived this week on the flight of customers from deposits, is increasingly at risk of collapse. Yesterday on Wall Street the stock again collapsed by more than 50% with investors fleeing before the worst can happen. According to the rumors circulated yesterday, the solution could already arrive over the weekend. The most popular hypothesis is that the Californian institution ends up under the controlled administration of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Fdic), which already intervened last month with other US banks in crisis. The move would leave shareholders penniless. Another front opened across the Channel where yesterday in London the British NatWest slumped by 7% after revealing a flight from deposits for almost 20 billion pounds in the first quarter.

A further ballast has also fallen on the Italian sector. Yesterday, in fact, rumors circulated about a possible solidarity contribution being examined by the government to be paid by Italian banks to finance measures to support families. Operators immediately began calculating the impact this measure could have on institutions' accounts. "In the hypothesis of an IRES surtax of between 2.5 and 5% for 2023, for banks in general it could mean an EPS (earnings per share) decreasing between 5 and 9%" explains an analyst who does not want to be quoted. What worries operators is not so much the drop in profits but rather the uncertainty about the sector: until the hypotheses become reality they prefer to focus on other sectors.

Meanwhile Bankitalia, in its report on financial stability, reassured that Italian banks are "in overall good condition" and will be able to generate profitability in 2023 similar to that of 2022 despite a growth in non-performing loans. At the same time mea culpa has arrived from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) which yesterday admitted the errors in supervision and inadequate regulation in the financial crash of Silicon Valley Bank (Svb), the most serious since the 2008 crisis. is committed to tightening controls, especially for medium-sized banks. Suggested measures include restoring rules for banks with more than $100 billion in assets, a review of how the regulator treats deposits above the $250,000 federal guarantee ceiling, increased risk-taking deterrents, and possible limits incentives for managers of poorly managed banks. All the bulls have already escaped but in this way the Fed wanted to send a signal to a sector still under pressure, as confirmed by the declines recorded yesterday by the main institutions globally.



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