ECB Needs Clarity Before Lifting Dividend Ban, Enria Tells HB

The European Central Bank needs to be clearer about the economic outlook and the robustness of banks capital planning before allowing a resumption of dividend payments, Chairman of the ECB Supervisory Board Andrea Enria said in an interview with Handelsblatt published Sunday.

“I will be as happy as everyone else when we can go back to our standard practice,” he said. “We do not intend to make it a regular supervisory tool.”

Several supervisory board members were moving toward supporting a resumption of dividend payments next year, Bloomberg reported in September. The central bank first asked banks in March to freeze payouts to conserve lenders capital.

Banks should also monitor their books for potential non-performing loans and be prepared for a possible surge of bad loans in the future, Enria said. Asked if a bad bank was a solution, he said there were “strong arguments” for a European initiative or a network of national bad banks.