Standard Bank notes SARB’s hold-back guidance on dividends, bonuses

Africa’s biggest bank by assets, Standard Bank Group, said on Tuesday that it had noted the contents of the guidance of the Prudential Authority of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) on dividend distributions to ordinary shareholders. SARB’s Prudential Authority, headed by Kuben Naidoo, has recommended that banks hold back on dividend distribution and executive bonuses to preserve capital for continued lending to those impacted by the national coronavirus lockdown.