SCGLF - Societe Generale: Should We Forget About A 15% Dividend Yield?

Introduction

European bank stocks are still rather weak as the lack of details on how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the financials weighs on a potential recovery. Additionally, the European regulator has asked all banks to suspend dividends in order to protect the balance sheets while the COVID-19 dust settles. I consider this to be a good move from the regulator as it avoids unnecessary unrest on the financial markets if/when one bank would have had to cut its dividend by a wider margin than others. This also creates opportunities as foregoing one year of