DIVIDEND-focused investors in Singapore may have been excited by news reports this past week that the United Kingdom's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will allow banks under its charge to begin paying dividends again.

The move comes as bank regulators around the world are reviewing restrictions they placed on dividend payouts and share buybacks earlier this year, when Covid-19 began jamming up global economic activity and threatening to trigger a cascade of defaults and bankruptcies.

On the face of it, regulators seem willing to allow the banks - especially the strongest ones - more latitude to set their own dividend policies. But they do not appear prepared to entirely let go of the restrictions currently in place.