The banking sector has not received a formal or informal proposal from the federal government to apply a special tax to the extraordinary profits they have obtained as a result of the high interest rates in the country, announced the Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM).
Bankers affirm that the profits that have been obtained are consistent with the capital invested in the country, and they even point out that there are economic sectors that are listed on the stock markets where the profitability is higher, according to data obtained by The Day.
According to information from the organization, last year the banking sector paid taxes for 267 billion pesos, practically the same amount that they generated in profits, which were 272 billion pesos, and which represented the best result since records have been kept. .
Data from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) indicate that throughout 2023, the financial services and insurance sector, which includes banks, paid taxes of 593 thousand 725 million pesos, which means that said financial institutions They contributed 44 percent.
The data reported by the Treasury includes all tax collection, payments such as income tax (ISR), value added tax (VAT) and payroll tax, among others.
For its part, data from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) indicates that throughout 2023, banks exclusively paid a tax on their profits for 95,445 million pesos.
In a meeting with the media, Julio Carranza Bolívar, president of the ABM, made it clear that the banks have not received a formal proposal from the authorities for the government to apply a special tax to the extraordinary profits of the banks, as has been done. in countries like Spain.
The period of high rates
In 2022, as a result of the high levels of inflation in the country, the Bank of Mexico (BdeM) raised the reference rate to a maximum level, the instrument that sets the cost at which companies and families are financed.
From January 2022 to April 2024 and gradually, the reference rate went from 5.5 percent to 11.25 percent, the highest level since the central bank aims to control inflation through monetary policy, and which translates into an increase of 5.75 percentage points.
One of the effects that this increase had for the banking sector was the historical generation of profits, as well as extraordinary income from the collection of interest. In all of 2023, banks obtained income from this concept of one trillion 608 thousand 748 million pesos, a growth in real terms of 31 percent.
Current figures
According to the Treasury, from January to September, the financial services and insurance sector has paid 456,757 million pesos in taxes.
In turn, the CNBV indicates that in that same period, banks have paid taxes exclusively on profits for 80,608 million pesos.
The ABM said that the profits are consistent with the capital invested, since last year, the return on equity (ROE) was 18.5 percent, while there are other economic sectors that are listed on the stock market where said indicator reaches up to 25 percent.
Since the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Congress of the Union debated the possibility of charging banks an additional tax on extraordinary profits obtained as a result of high interest rates.
In Spain, given the increase in revenues and profits reported by banks in that period, the government made the decision to apply an additional 15 percent charge to extraordinary profits.