BLX - This Bank Just Cut Its Dividend. Will Others Follow Suit?
The U.S. has taken a hard hit from the novel coronavirus pandemic, with the most cases of any nation on Earth and a rising death toll. Yet the economic impacts of governments and businesses responding to the COVID-19 outbreak don't respect international borders. Even in far-flung parts of the world, you can see the effects that the shutdowns of businesses are having on local economies.
Recently, investors got a reading on the state of the Latin American banking sector in the earnings release of Panama's Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE: BLX). The bank better known as Bladex saw some deterioration in some key metrics during the first quarter of 2020, and even though it remains well-capitalized to handle future issues, Bladex succumbed to the need to reduce its dividend payment for the quarter -- disappointing those who had come to appreciate the bank's double-digit percentage dividend yield and making some wonder whether U.S. bank stocks could have to do the same in the near future.
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