Have European banks maintained their payout policy during the crisis? The role of scrip dividends

Abstract

We analyse the trend among 79 banks from 20 European countries towardsscrip dividends. Whereas banks do not seem to smooth cash dividends, they dosmooth total dividends, which include both cash and scrip dividends. We alsofind that the new legal requirements (resulting from the Basel III Accord andother country-level laws) have different implications on cash and scrip divi-dends. Whereas the need for better and more capital imposed by these ruleshas led banks to cut cash dividends, there is a positive relationship betweenthe legal requirements on capital adequacy and scrip dividends.