Italy banks are big taxpayers, important not to alarm investors, Mediobanca CEO says
MILAN, Aug 1 (Reuters) -A new levy on Italian bank profits would not be justified as lenders already are among the country's biggest taxpayers, Mediobanca's chief executive said, adding it was important not to hurt investor sentiment towards the industry.
Some Italian newspapers reported on Thursday that the Italian government was considering introducing new taxes on banks as well as insurers, energy companies and luxury goods firms.
A year ago Italy's conservative government sparked a major sell-off in banking shares by announcing a surprise 40% windfall tax on bank profits driven by higher interest rates.
The government later backtracked and gave lenders the option to increase their reserve buffers rather than paying the levy.
Italian financial institutions opted en masse to forgo the extraordinary tax, setting aside at least 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in response to the measure, or 2.5 times what the government would have pocketed from the levy.
"Italian banks are major contributors to tax revenues," Mediobanca CEO Alberto Nagel told a media briefing when asked about the newspaper reports.
"They are a big booster of tax revenues. Getting the banks to do well and to avoid creating negative perceptions is beneficial for everyone," said Nagel.
Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo ISP.MI on Tuesday said its first half profits would translate into net tax payments of 3.1 billion euros for the state.
($1 = 0.9251 euros)
Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; editing by Valentina Za
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