LLOYDS Banking Group may have to rein in dividend payouts in order to maintain its capital at the level required by the Bank of England, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
The paper noted analyst Peter Richardson at Berenberg said banks may have to limit dividend payments in readiness for the increasingly tough stress tests they will face in coming years. The results of the latest annual tests will be published tomorrow.
Lloyds, which owns Bank of Scotland, had been thought to be planning to increase payouts after announcing its first dividend in six years in February.
The Mail on Sunday said the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee may be on the brink of announcing new curbs on lending including on buy-to-let mortgages.
The paper said the cost of the average £185,000 buy-to-let mortgage is set to increase by around £5,500 following George Osborne’s decision last week to impose an additional three per cent Stamp Duty on the purchase of such properties.
Martin Bell, tax partner at BDO, told The Sunday Herald: “Investors in Scottish property will need to wait for the Scottish Budget on 16 December to see if John Swinney follows suit with any increases in the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax.”
The Sunday Times reports that the founder of Amigo Loans, James Benamor, received a £1m dividend last year.
It says profits at the firm, which offers high-interest loans that are guaranteed by friends and family, increased by around 10 per cent, to £36m, in the year to March.
The paper reckons brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev is to put the Peroni and Grolsch beer operations up for sale to help win regulatory clearance for its planned £177bn merger with SAB Miller.
The Observer highlights the case of a US credit card processing entrepreneur who took a $1m (£0.66m) pay cut to ensure his staff could get what he regarded as the $70,000 wage needed to live a normal life. Dan Price of Gravity Payments slashed his $1.1m salary to the same amount, only to be criticised for being a socialist by rightwing radio host Rush Limbaugh. “People I care about, who’ve helped me so much, now have more dignity. The distraction of not having enough to cover the basics has gone,” Mr Price told the paper.
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