Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini has publicly demanded that Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit banks contribute a share of their combined €20 billion in projected profits to the national interest. He intimated that the government intends to press the banking sector on redistributive grounds — and sending shares in both institutions briefly lower.
Speaking in Milan on Friday at an event focused on the government’s housing plan, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini turned his attention to Italy’s two largest banks, calling their profit performance a matter of pressing national concern.
“Go and look at the quarterly results of UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo,” he told the audience. “Italy’s top two banks will close this difficult year for the vast majority of families and businesses with €20 billion in profits. The League will ask the banks that are making unprecedented gains and profits to contribute to the country’s economic growth. I am convinced that the government and the League will be uncompromising on this.”
He added pointedly: “There cannot be a giant that makes money with its back covered. Part of those profits could be reinvested in the housing plan.”
Salvini also argued that a significant portion of the banks’ profitability has effectively been underwritten by the state and by Italian taxpayers. Furthermore, he noted that loans backed by state guarantees had contributed to margins that no private business could otherwise count on.
Market reaction
The remarks had an immediate, if short-lived, effect on Piazza Affari. Shares in UniCredit fell as much as 1.2% following Salvini’s comments before recovering to a loss of around 0.5% at €73.76, while Intesa Sanpaolo dropped as much as 0.95% before paring losses to 0.2% at €5.68.
Meloni’s position
Salvini’s intervention is not an isolated one. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made similar arguments in recent months, framing any financial transfer from the banking sector as a fair return on policies that have benefited lenders. “We don’t want to tax the wealth produced by companies,” Meloni said in a recently published interview. “We want a contribution on income accumulated due to market conditions that the government’s policy has strongly contributed to creating.”
Meloni has indicated she would consider the banks’ contribution linked specifically to housing, adding that asking for around €5 billion from combined sector profits of €44 billion in 2025 was a reasonable expectation.
