Bank envisions a legal fight against the Spanish Government’s new tax

Of all the bank executives who attended the XIII Financial Industry Meeting held in Madrid by KPMG and Expansión, Bankinter CEO was the one who spoke most clearly. Maria Dolores Dancausa Who said they would object? “day after payment”.

Likewise, Onur Genç, CEO of BBVA, accused the Government of wanting to restrict banking activities without making clear, saying that the rate would harm Spain’s economic growth, which is also being pursued. when new rates are set for a particular sector.

António Simões, CEO of Santander Spain, “This is not the best way to fight inflation” and it will be bad “For the Spanish economy”.

The additional 3,500 million taxes they want to collect is equivalent to the 50,000 million fewer loans the industry could provide to the real economy, so it’s a “wrong” decision at a time when banks need to be prepared to support the economy. said.

CEO of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortazar It enabled the entity, as with its obligations as directors, to carefully review the final text of the new tax to verify that it complies with the law before deciding whether to appeal.

César González-Bueno, CEO of Banco Sabadell, Accused the government of stating the rate “in a hurry” and do not fall into the contradiction, for example, that the text prohibits the transfer of expenses to customers and that the European auditor EBA advises them to do so when faced with extraordinary expenses.

Ibercaja Banco’s “number two” Víctor Iglesias, if the odds hold, they “probably” refer to itbecause they think it’s based on vague arguments because the industry has no benefits falling from the sky, and we’ll see if higher interest rates translate into more benefits.

Manuel Menéndez, CEO of Unicaja Banco, said that the rate is not justified, because, among other things, an increase in interest does not mean an increase in profits, because the cost of risk also affects it. businesses had to do business with negative interest.

On behalf of the industry, Alejandra Kindelán, president of the Spanish banking association AEB, insisted that the time was not the best to tax the industry with a new tax, calling it negative. “for legal certainty”.

And although from the perspective of the EBA, the industry’s European supervisor, the head of the organization, José Manuel Campa, there is a tendency to think that banks will benefit more with higher interest rates – the thesis that the government raises the rate – the reality may be very different.

And “the continued deterioration of the economy may mean a lower flow of credit”, with the banking business decreasing and in addition they will have to incur higher financing costs and the current economic context will also affect the banking business. the quality of assets, with an increase in defaults in both households and companies.