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European Banks Dangle Payouts as Pressure to Boost Capital Eases

  • Capital requirements to stabilize after years of increases
  • Banks exceeding minimum levels for reserves by wider margins
Views Of The Financial District As Goldman CEO Blankfein Tweets About Spending 'A Lot More Time' In Frankfurt
Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg

Investors in Europe’s beaten-down banks may finally start to see a little reward after enduring years of pain.

The 10 largest publicly traded euro-area lenders will see their capital requirements stabilize in 2020 after years of increases, according to recent filings. That may create space for higher dividends and buybacks, bolstering banking stocks, which have underperformed the wider market for eight of the last 10 years.