SocGen, Santander Denounce Dividend Ban as ECB Weighs Fallout
- Bini Smaghi says ECB policy risks making banks “uninvestible”
- Santander’s Botin says ECB should reconsider ban on dividends
Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
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Societe Generale SA and Banco Santander SA criticized European regulators for the de-facto ban on dividend payments, arguing the policy risks making the industry unappealing to investors and puts the region’s banks at a disadvantage to U.S. firms.
The European Central Bank’s request that lenders hold off payouts to conserve capital and keep credit flowing during the pandemic makes banks “uninvestible” and could backfire, SocGen Chairman Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said at a virtual conference on Wednesday. Speaking at the same event, Ana Botin, his counterpart at Santander, said that the ECB should reconsider its stance.