By Andrea Hargraves 
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister, claimed responsibility for proposing a 40% tax on bank windfall profits. And I would do it again, obviously. Even after the announcement of this measure, last week, it caused huge losses in the stock markets, he said in an interview with three Italian newspapers.
In an interview with the newspapers Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and La Stampa published on Monday, August 14, cited by BloombergMeloni — who heads a right-wing executive headed by his party, the Brotherhood of Italy — defended the measure, saying: “The banking system hastened to raise interest rates on housing loans, but kept them unchanged in terms of savings, causing distortion.”.
Even after strong declines in stock markets – which particularly hurt Italian banks – with many pundits fearing a further deterioration in the credibility of Italian markets, Meloni told the newspapers, at his vacation home, in southern Italy, that he was “doing it”. Obviously will be back again (…It’s a measure I wanted because I think we have to send a message about what a just state is.”.
Miguel Maya (BCP), Paulo Macedo (CGD), Pedro Castro y Almeida (Santander), Joao Oliveira y Costa (BPI) and Mark Burke (Novo Banco)
financial system
Read also
I do not want to punish the banks, but there was an imbalance situation. (…) With the continuous and prolonged increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank, households and businesses are at risk of being punished.”he added.
The measure, which was announced last week on the last day before the start of the Italian government holiday, caused huge losses in European bank stocks. The Rome executive later came to add water to the boil, saying the amount raised represented only 0.1% of the Italian banks’ global assets.
The measure in question aims to tax the extraordinary profits of Italian banks by 40% in 2022 and 2023, with Meloni’s government initially estimating revenues of two billion euros.