Singapore to Conduct Bank Stress Tests to Assess Dividend Curbs

Singapore’s financial regulator is carrying out additional stress tests on banks to assess whether the current restrictions on dividends need to be extended.

The central bank wants to make sure lenders are a “source of strength” for the economy as “quite a bit of uncertainties remain,” Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Ravi Menon said during a briefing on its annual report on Wednesday. The stress tests will “very much guide our decision going forward” and the MAS will advise on its decision “very shortly.”