Mr Salmon fails to recognize the that US government paid nothing for the preferred shares it owns....the government demanded them as compensation for its guarantees of the GSE's debt. As for the $188 bil of debt referred to by Mr Salmonn, the bulk of it was in the form of mortgage backed securities it purchased from the GSEs. So for him to state that none the $132 bil of dividends the government has received has paid down any of that debt is not a correct comparison. Furthermore, it is my understanding that the government is not plowing those dividends back into the GSE's, but rather using them to pay general government expenses. In addition, the legality of the government creating a class of preferred senior to the private preferreds is highly questionable. I say if the government ever wants these entities to attract new private capital, then the existing preferred holders need to soon have their dividends restored.
Citigroup (C) did not request a dividend increase in its Capital Plan submitted to the Fed, but did propose a $1.2B buyback program and the maintenance of its $0.01 dividend. (Presentation, pg. 14) (Previous: Stress test results) [View news story]
Couldn't agree more with Shane and Benitus. The amount of the proposed share buy back is so miniscule it won't move the needle on the share price by a millimeter. In fact, Citi's capital plan is so disappointing, it's likely to have a negative impact on Citi's share price.
Citigroup (C) plans to ask permission for a "minimal" buyback of its shares as part of the latest Fed stress test. The 19 largest U.S. banks are due to put forward their plans to return capital to shareholders as part of an annual Fed-supervised exercise, and due by Monday. Speculation is that, among other plans outlined for the remaining banks, JPMorgan (JPM) will seek a dividend increase and a share repurchase program. [View news story]
A minimal buyback of stock would be invisible in the share price. Citi's shareholders are starved for a dividend. Not only would the dividend provide them with some cash flow, the positive message it would send to the market would result in a bigger increase in the share price than a minimal stock buyback.
The Frannie Gamble [View article]
Citigroup (C) did not request a dividend increase in its Capital Plan submitted to the Fed, but did propose a $1.2B buyback program and the maintenance of its $0.01 dividend. (Presentation, pg. 14) (Previous: Stress test results) [View news story]
Citigroup (C) plans to ask permission for a "minimal" buyback of its shares as part of the latest Fed stress test. The 19 largest U.S. banks are due to put forward their plans to return capital to shareholders as part of an annual Fed-supervised exercise, and due by Monday. Speculation is that, among other plans outlined for the remaining banks, JPMorgan (JPM) will seek a dividend increase and a share repurchase program. [View news story]