Dividends from banks returning after a gap of 3 years (AP) (14-01-2011)

According to analysts, it looks like investors in bank stocks will be getting dividend payments soon.

The three-year pause in payments was put in place to repair their damaged balance sheets, re-starting the flow billions of dollars to pension funds and retirees who had viewed bank shares as dependable sources of income.

Clues to how big a payout is in store could come as early as Friday, when JPMorgan Chase announces its 2010 financial performance, the first of many earnings reports to come over the next week from the likes of Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

If the big banks deliver a second straight year of rising profits, as many analysts expect, the conditions would be in place for regulators to approve dividend increases by as early as March.

Source: AP