One of the points of agreement between PSOE and Sumar is a study on the extension of the bank tax, which was intended to be temporary for 2023 and 2024. Hector Grisi, CEO of Banco Santander, was categorical about this possibility: “I want this tax to be abolished”. Grisi insists this is discriminatory and unfair to the sector. Moreover, he added that the tax would have a “significant” impact on creditworthiness when interest rates fall.

The CEO recalled that banks already pay more taxes than other companies and noted that their corporate tax is 30% and that they also have to pay other taxes such as deposits or transactions. For this reason, he is asking for the bank tax to be abolished as it only taxes one sector as well as income. “It’s not that we don’t like paying taxes, we don’t like it because it discriminates and taxes income.”had an impact on the presentation of third quarter results.

However, the CEO clarified that “we in no way think that taxes should be increased for all companies.” In 2023, Banco Santander paid €224 million in this tax and they expect this figure to be higher next year, in line with rising revenues in Spain. this will be an increase of 30%.

Having said all this, Grisi explained that markets have cycles. “Today we have a good situation, but there are also bad ones.” However, he pointed out that when a bad situation comes, or, what is the same, when the European Central Bank (ECB) starts to cut rates, this tax will have to continue to be paid, and “this will significantly affect the issuance of credit.”