UBS, Citigroup differ on Singapore’s move to cap bank dividends

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UBS and Citigroup are at odds on how MAS' move to cap dividend payouts at the nation’s banks will play out for equity investors. YahooFinance

Citigroup says the move will be viewed negatively by investors as dividend yield is an important factor when considering buying bank stocks. UBS sees the central bank’s move as prudent in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and no threat to the sustainability of payouts.

Shares of the three lenders extended recent losses on Thursday. DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. each dropped more than 3%, while United Overseas Bank Ltd. fell‘Buying Opportunity’“The short term and prudent nature of this measure does not raise any question marks on the long-term sustainability of dividends,” UBS Group analyst Aakash Rawat wrote in a note. “Investors with a slightly longer-term horizon are likely to see this weakness as a buying opportunity.

According to Sanford C. Bernstein, a cap rather than outright postponement suggests MAS is sufficiently comfortable with the banks’ ability to ride through the year. Investors should keep holding the stocks as banks are likely to resume payouts at 2019 levels as soon as they’re able, analysts Kevin Kwek and Pranav Gundlapalle wrote in a note on Wednesday.

The cut in dividends will add to the pain of a sharp sequential narrowing of net interest margins and may prompt banks to front-load provisions, they wrote.

 

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