BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA S.P.A. ROME, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The new windfall tax on bank profits from higher rates that the Italian government announced late on Monday cannot be higher than 0.1% of lenders' total assets, the economy ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The tax, which came as a surprise and sent Italian banking shares sharply lower reverberating across the European sector, targets the rate-driven increase in banks' net interest income, or the profit lenders reap from the gap in lending and deposit rates.
Earlier on Tuesday Citi analysts had estimated the tax proceeds could amount to as much as to around 0.5% of total 2023 risk-weighted bank assets (RWAs), but the Italian Treasury said in a statement they could total at most 0.1% of RWAs. (Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Valentina Za)
