dividends

Richard Kovacevich, Wells Fargo & Co. Chairman, during his speech on March 13 at Stanford University in California criticized the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and called the stress-testing banks “asinine.”

Kovacevich, 65, stated that when the U.S. Treasury persuaded the nation’s nine biggest banks to accept capital investments in October, it signaled the whole industry was weak, although some of them, including Wells Fargo didn’t need the capital.

The Board of Directors of JPMorgan Chase made a decision to reduce the company’s quarterly common stock dividend from $0.38 to $0.05 per share effective for the dividend payable April 30, 2009, to shareholders of record on April 6, 2009. The level is expected to stay unchanged for time being. The move is aimed at retaining an additional $5 billion in common equity per year.

On Wednesday January 21, 2009 Bank of America Corporation and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. made a conjoint announcement to their corresponding Boards of Directors about declared preferred dividends. The report included the initial cash dividends on the Fixed-Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stocks, Series Q and R, as well as a quarterly cash dividend on the Merrill Lynch 9 Percent Non-Voting Mandatory Convertible Non-Cumulative Preferred Stocks, Series 2 and 3.