Euro-Area Bank Dividends May Tumble Below Post-Lehman Low
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Euro-area bank dividends are poised to sink below the low set after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as regulators force lenders to bolster capital.
French, Italian and Spanish banks will have the most cuts after UniCredit SpA and Societe Generale SA scrapped payments for 2011, according to dividend forecasts by Bloomberg that are based on earnings estimates and options prices. Banks in the U.K. and Sweden, outside the euro zone, may keep or increase their payouts after regulators found they didn’t need to raise more capital, the data show.