Banks Are Poised to Pay Dividends After 3-Year Gap

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Investors in bank stocks are about to get a big cut of the profits again.

Financial analysts say the nation’s largest banks are ready to begin restoring their dividends in the first half of the year, after a three-year pause to repair their damaged balance sheets. The reversal could put billions of dollars in the pockets of pension funds and retirees who had viewed bank shares as dependable sources of income.

Clues to how big a payout is in store could come as early as Friday, when JPMorgan Chase announces its 2010 financial performance, the first of many earnings reports to come over the next week from the likes of Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

If the big banks deliver a second straight year of rising profits, as many analysts expect, the conditions would be in place for regulators to approve dividend increases by as early as March.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/business/14dividend.html

[Historic NY]

1. I'll let you know if they send me a pittance.

[FBaggins]

2. Most bank shareholders would be happy...

To just see some profits to have a cut of in the first place.

Many of these banks haven't seen a positive quarter in over two years. If the dividend was set at half of the profits, you would have to write a check to them.

On second thought... Musn't give them any ideas.