A custodian bank’s dividend, raised every year for sixteen years and covered nearly four times over. The $0.63 quarterly dividend ($2.52 annualized) is 26.1% of fiscal 2025 net income — the sector-appropriate payout base for a bank under the §3 sector note — and the dividend has risen every year, from $0.42 through $0.47 and $0.53 to $0.63 in July and October 2026, sixteen years of increases with no cut in the series shown. The $0.63 dividend was declared October 15, 2026, payable November 9, 2026. The 1.70% yield clears the §1 sub-1% line, and every check passes — the card is graded good.
Key risk: Custody and asset-servicing revenue follows markets — a long market decline shrinks fee income and capital returns with it.
Changes if: The earnings payout rises above 60%, or the dividend is cut.
- ✓Earnings payout (§3, bank basis) 26.1% of FY2025 net income — inside the 60% pass band, on the sector-appropriate base.
- ✓Dividend history (§3) Sixteen years of increases; raises every year; no cut in the series shown.
- ✓Leverage (§3, bank basis) Not graded on net debt/EBITDA — a custodian bank; graded on earnings payout and capital returns. CET1 ratio not stated on this card.
- ✓Yield (§1) 1.70% — clears the sub-1% line.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.