On Friday, five of the largest banks in the United States declared their intention to distribute more funds to their shareholders.

This decision comes after successfully clearing the Federal Reserve stress tests earlier in the week, serving as a demonstration of their robustness and further emphasizing the gap between these industry behemoths and smaller regional competitors.

The banks in question, namely JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup, have all unveiled their plans to increase their quarterly dividends, Yahoo Finance reported.

The extent of these increases varied, ranging from 2 cents to 25 cents, with Goldman Sachs implementing the largest boost while Citigroup’s raise was the smallest.

Additionally, many of these banks celebrated the outcomes of their regulatory examinations, which were disclosed by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

These examinations evaluated whether 23 financial institutions had the capacity to endure a severe global recession characterized by a 10% unemployment rate and a 45% decline in the stock market.

Notably, until the banks achieved a passing grade in the stress tests, they were prohibited from distributing any funds to their shareholders.

Written by staff