Europe’s top financial regulators are putting the finishing touches to new recommendations allowing the region’s strongest banks to restart dividend payments within strict limits, ending a nine-month hiatus imposed due to the coronavirus crisis.
The European Central Bank’s supervisory board, which oversees the 117 biggest banks in the eurozone, plans to announce the conditions under which it will accept some lenders restarting their dividend payments after its meeting on Tuesday.
Three people briefed on the discussions said the ECB was preparing to propose stricter limits on banks’ renewed dividend payments than those outlined by the Bank of England, which lifted its ban on shareholder distributions in the sector last week.