(News Bulletin 247) – The Italian banking sector took a hit on the Milan Stock Exchange on Tuesday, after the government’s surprise announcement of a tax on “superprofits” made by establishments in the country.

Nightmarish day for the Italian banking sector on the Milan Stock Exchange. The shares of transalpine banks lost up to 11% on Tuesday, sounded by the surprise announcement of a proposed tax on superprofits made by transalpine establishments.

At the close, Bper Banca fell 10.9%, Monte dei Paschi di Siena 10.8%, Finecobank dropped 9.9%, Banco Bpm 9%. The top two banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit returned 8.7% and 5.9% respectively. This small resurgence of tension on the banking compartment pulled down the FTSE MIB, the star index of the Milan Stock Exchange, which ended in a sharp decline of 2.12% on Tuesday evening.

It is therefore nearly 10 billion euros in capitalization that went up in smoke in the first hours of trading, reports the Stampa. .

And it is above all three times more than the sums hoped for by the government with the introduction of this surprise tax of 40% on the “superprofits” of Italian banks, adds the Italian daily. The revenue from this tax will help finance tax cuts and will support the production of mortgage loans for new owners.

Quoted by AFP, the experts of Banca Akros argue that the earnings per share of banks will be reduced by 7% on average, with the application of this exceptional tax.

The Paris Stock Exchange closed down 0.69% to 7269.47 points. The banking sector was in difficulty all day, with BNP Paribas which lost 3%, Crédit Agricole 2.5% while Société Générale limited its decline to 1.7%.

As in Europe, the US banking sector is not spared by this downward movement as Moody’s has decided to downgrade the credit rating of several banking establishments. The rating agency also placed six other major banks under review for possible downgrade.

On Wall Street, Citigroup lost 2.9%, Goldman Sachs 2.8%, and JPMorgan 1.8% at the close of European stock exchanges.