Powell says Fed will not commit to any decision on dividend restrictions

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, asked on Tuesday if the Fed would consider reinstating previous capital requirements for financial companies that continued to pay dividends throughout the crisis, said the central bank was still debating the matter.
 

"We have not decided what to do there yet and we're actually looking into that right now," Powell said during a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee.

Powell said that separately, the Fed has intervened to require banks to limit their dividend growth and share buy backs, which led to higher capital among the largest banks.