The co-ordinated action from the banks came after the Prudential Regulation Authority gave them a deadlineBritain’s big banks last night bowed to orders to scrap dividends and cash bonuses or face supervisory action by the financial regulator. Barclays, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Standard Chartered issued statements last night agreeing to cancel remaining dividend payments for 2019 and promising not to pay out at all to shareholders in 2020 in order to retain more financial firepower to fight the impact of coronavirus. The co-ordinated action came after the Prudential Regulation Authority gave banks an 8pm deadline to agree to cancel dividend payments and share buybacks and to make a statement by 9pm. If they did not do so, the PRA warned that it could use its supervisory powers to force banks to comply. There had been increasing pressure

Source: The Times March 31, 2020 23:06 UTC