A friend sent me the following article from USA Today:
The U.S. taxpayers’ investments in smaller banks are increasingly at risk.
In a sign that more banks are under great pressure from the recession, 34 financial institutions did not pay their quarterly dividends in August to the Treasury on funds obtained under the Troubled Asset Relief Fund [...]

Now GE has finally cut, but will they be able to maintain their AAA rating?

From MarketWatch:

J.P. Morgan Chase said late Monday that its board cut the company’s quarterly dividend to 5 cents from 38 cents, effective for the dividend payable April 30. “The board anticipates maintaining this level for the time being. This action will enable the company to retain an additional $5 billion in common equity per year,” [...]

Meredith Whitney, the well-known former Oppenheimer analyst had some interesting words to say on CNBC about the banking sector, nationalization, dividends and Citigroup. Take a look.

Update 08 Mar 2009: Remember this:

Wells Fargo gave anxious investors a pleasant surprise Wednesday, reporting a profit drop that was milder than anticipated and lifting its quarterly dividend by 10 percent.

Wells Fargo’s second-quarter profit fell 22 percent as more customers at the nation’s fifth-largest bank failed to pay back their loans. But it raised its dividend to 34 cents from 31 cents – at a time when many other financial institutions are slashing theirs to preserve capital.

Very foolhardy now that Wells has been forced to cut its dividend to 5 cents even after receiving $25 billion from the federal government. So, I am re-posting this story as a reminder of what lies ahead.

General Electric released its earnings report, posting net income in line with analyst estimates. And the world had a big sigh of relief. In posting its earnings, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt defended his company’s dividend and AAA rating.

In a move widely anticipated for months by many analysts, Meredith Whitney amongst others, Bank of America has finally cut its dividend. Releasing its earning report two weeks early, BofA said it would cut the dividend 50%. I view the move as much needed because BofA needs to start husbanding cash in order [...]

The latest move by a regional bank comes from KeyCorp, based in Cleveland. In order to preserve capital ahead of the impending troubles headed for the regionals, KeyCorp has taken the prudent step of both raising capital and cutting its dividend.
KeyCorp on Thursday said it would raise about $1.5 billion in new equity and [...]