From next October XNUMX, the ban on banks across Europe from distributing dividends to their shareholders will end. And end of the ban on buybacks, i.e. the repurchase of one's own shares. This is what the ECB's Banking Supervision established by accepting the banks' request to return to normality in terms of dividends and buybacks.
The release of the coupons is worth 20 billion euros within the year which, according to what Bank of America has calculated, will anticipate a coupon flow of almost 60 billion in cash in 2022.
The current situation, according to current banking supervision, is different from that of 2020 when, for prudential reasons, the distribution of coupons and the purchase of bank treasury shares was suspended and therefore we can gradually return to normal. Naturally it will not be a generalized return and, in communicating the halt to the restrictions, the European Banking Supervision warns that it will discuss the return to normal on a case-by-case basis, discussing the dividend distribution and buy-back plans with each institution. Whoever is better off from a financial point of view will be able to give the expected coupon to their shareholders first.
It is a very interesting novelty for investors and savers, for banks and for the Stock Exchange which on Monday, when trading reopens, will not fail to take it into account. Certainly those who have invested in solid banks such as Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit and Mediobanca can realistically hope to receive the coupon at the beginning of autumn, according to methods and quantities that will soon be defined. The shareholders expect around 4 billion euros from the three Italian institutions, mainly from Intesa Sanpaolo.