Merrill Lynch to slash dividend?

It's no secret that banks are constrained as they try to raise capital these days. Shareholders seem to have borne the brunt of these efforts, to say the least, and there's got to be a limit as to how much abuse they can take. But it looks like dividends may have to be cut by more banks. At Lehman Brothers, the top dogs could eliminate its 17-cent dividend and still not raise a whole lot. But at Merrill Lynch, such a move may be inevitable; it could save nearly $3 billion a year if it eliminated its dividend. Fortune notes that analysts Dick Bove of Ladenburg Thalmann and Brad Hintz of Sanford C. Bernstein have predicted a dividend cut at Merrill Lynch. Obviously, capital remains an issue. We'll see how this plays out.  

For more:
- here's the Fortune article

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