Banking

UniCredit, the Milan-based lender, used a get-out clause to avoid the bank windfall tax and insisted it will return €6.5bn to investors this year

One of Italy’s largest banks will use an accounting loophole to avoid paying the Italian government’s controversial bank windfall tax, while simultaneously returning billions of euros to investors.

UniCredit, the second largest bank in Italy by assets, said it will use a get-out clause to avoid paying the windfall tax on bank profits, which was introduced earlier this year by Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister.

Announcing a double-digit increase in third quarter revenues on …