Banks, being the pillar of the economy, have also suffered in tandem.
Long known for their ability to pay consistent dividends, a surprise announcement by the Monetary Authority of Singapore has called on the banks to cap their dividend payments this year to just 60% of what was paid out last year.Sharp margin contractionA common theme among the three banks is how their NIM has contracted sharply compared to the same period a year ago.
All the banks cited a declining interest rate environment as a key factor for their net interest income fall. The silver lining here is that thus far, non-performing loan ratios have remained fairly benign, hovering between 1.5% to 1.6% for all three banks. DBS lowered its quarterly dividend to S$0.18 from S$0.30 a year ago, UOB cut its half-year dividend to S$0.39 from S$0.55, while OCBC reduced its dividend to S$0.159 from S$0.25.
As it stands, DBS and OCBC offer a forward dividend yield of 3.4% and 3.6%, respectively, while UOB’s dividend yield is the highest at 4%.
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Source: BusinessTimes - 🏆 15. / 51 Read more »