Stresses that the bank tax “is not good for Spain”
MADRID, 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The CEO of BBVA, Onur Genç, has highlighted that the bank he leads will decide this week whether to join the agreement between the Government and the bank to alleviate the mortgage burden of nearly one million families due to the context of rising interest rates interest.
“The industry [employers’ associations] has declared its intention to join the agreement and we are going to take it to the meeting of the board of directors this week,” said the executive during his speech at an event organized by the newspaper ‘Expansión’ and KPMG .
Although he did not want to advance the decision of the council, Genç has indicated that his expectation is that the accession be approved. In any case, the banker recalled that the vast majority of mortgages adopted in the last five years are at a fixed rate, so the problem of interest rate exposures “is somewhat manageable”, in his opinion .
On the other hand, the manager has stressed that the specific tax that the Government has raised to tax bank income “is not good for Spain” due to the effects it will have on growth.
Genç has argued that the entity is in “total disagreement” with the Government’s argument and has questioned what extraordinary benefits the financial sector is having. “That the interest rates are positive is something extraordinary” ?, he has indicated during his speech.
He has also argued that there are many academic studies that indicate that taxes of this type will restrict the lending capacity of the sector and, therefore, will affect the real economy. “This is not the right time”, he continued, ensuring that it is necessary to invest in sustainability.
Regarding the possibility that BBVA may file some type of legal recourse against this tax, Genç explained that no decision has been made yet and that “it will be decided in due time”.
