BREJY mBank SA (PK)

WARSAW--Poland's financial watchdog KNF for a second straight year has called on banks to limit dividend payouts to 75% of 2012 earnings in order to shore up capital bases.

KNF said Wednesday it wants insurers to follow a similar path and limit the payout to 75% of earnings, but to allow a 100% dividend payout in the case of highly solvent and well capitalized companies.

Some of the Polish banks which do not meet the regulator's criteria will be asked to pay no dividend and retain all of their annual earnings.

The regulator only allows dividend payouts from banks that have a capital adequacy ratio of 12% and a core Tier 1 level of 9%, and which are expected to keep these ratios throughout 2013.

Write to Patryk Wasilewski at patryk.wasilewski@dowjones.com

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