(Bloomberg) -- The Spanish government has raised the maximum extraordinary tax on the country’s biggest banks, prompting an immediate industry backlash.
The adoption of a fiscal package by Parliament on Thursday has extended an existing windfall levy on Spanish lenders, raising the maximum rate charged to 7%, according to a finance ministry spokesperson.
The new rate will apply to banks that make more than €5 billion ($5.2 billion) in annual revenue from interest and fee income. That would apply to the country’s largest lenders including Banco Santander SA and BBVA.
A joint statement from the Spanish banking associations AEB and CECA said they “denounce the legal uncertainty and serious economic effects of a tax that has been created in a chaotic and non-transparent process, behind the backs of citizens and without dialogue.”
Rate Increase
The previous rate was 4.8% and it applied to a wide group of lenders. While the new tax theoretically applies to banks generally, the rate increases for banks with higher levels of revenue.
The statement called the tax “without parallels in other EU countries” and said it “harms the competitiveness of Spanish credit institutions and the economy as a whole.”
Spain’s governing Socialist party previously reached an agreement with partners in parliament to extend the tax on banks for three more years, Bloomberg reported late last month. That proposal would have applied a tax range from 1% to 6% on commission and interest margins.
“We already expected the levy to be extended but we didn’t expect changes to its mechanism,” KBW analysts including Hugo Cruz said in a note on Friday.”
(Updates with analyst comment in final paragraph.)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.