Banks' dividends fail to lift investor confidence

Of the 30 listed banks in Bangladesh, 13 declared higher dividends than in the previous year, eight announced lower dividends, and eight the same, according to Dhaka Stock Exchange. Dutch-Bangla Bank came up with the highest amount of dividends—40 percent cash—for its general shareholders. ICB Islamic Bank gave no dividends. With the mixed trend in dividend declaration, the banking shares were unable to draw the investors' attention in the last couple of months, as corporate declarations from the sector could not fulfil retail investors' expectations. The banks' income from lending business declined in 2013 than the previous year due mainly to the political volatility. But thanks to the central bank's move of relaxing loan provisioning rules at the yearend, the banks could recover losses.