Italian banking shares took a beating on Tuesday morning after Italy's cabinet approved a 40% windfall tax on lenders' profits in 2023. As of around 9:45 a.m. in Rome, BPER Banca shares had plunged 8% and Intesa Sanpaolo was down 7%, while Banco BPM, UniCredit and Finecobank all dropped more than 6%. The one-off tax on extra profits will be equal to around 19% of banks' net profits for the year, analysts at Citi estimated based on currently available data. "We see this tax as substantially negative for banks given both the impact on capital and profit as well as for cost of equity of bank shares. Banks are required to pay the tax within six months after the end of the financial year.

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Persons: Carlo Nordio, Adolfo Urso, Matteo Salvini, Francesco Lollobrigida, Orazio Schillaci, Palazzo Chigi, Sanpaolo, Salvini, Azzurra Guelfi, Banks Organizations: Enterprise, Transport, Agriculture, Health, Palazzo, Ministers, BPER Banca, Banco, European, Citi, Citi Equity Research, UCI Locations: Italy, Rome