...September 6, 2023 FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 6, 2023--The Slovenian banking sector should be able to absorb the financial burden of a five-year tax on bank profits. The tax aims to help fund reconstruction after the devasting floods that hit large parts of north and central Slovenia at the beginning of August. The floods caused a financial damage of about 4.7 billion. We understand that the planned legislation foresees a tax rate of 0.2% annually on total consolidated assets of the banking sector. Considering that Slovenian banks' total assets reached 52.1 billion as of July 2023, we project an annual financial burden of roughly 100 million for banks operating in the country. Our expectation is in line with government estimates of 500 million of tax revenues over the five-year taxation period. The banking sector's pre-tax operating income before loan loss provisions was about 550 million at the end of June 2023, compared with close to 560 million at year-end 2022. We therefore...
