According to a press report, the Central Bank of UAE has directed banks to have their dividends approved before announcing them to the market. In the past UAE banks’ boards would announce the cash dividends with the annual results, however these would be subject to approval from the Central Bank and shareholders. In 2012, DIB was asked by the regulator to cut its dividend to AED0.10 from AED0.20 after the bank had announced it to the market. Even though UAE banks are generally well capitalised and their pre-provision profitability is robust, the central bank nonetheless may act conservatively and cut proposed dividends in light of the following risks: i) continued and relatively sharp deterioration in asset quality due to a soft macro backdrop and ii) revaluation losses on investments owing to a sustained increase in US interest rates, in our view.  UAE banks are set to begin reporting their 2015 results from mid-January. We forecast a 2015e dividend yield of c6.0% for our coverage. (Reuters, Shabbir Malik, Murad Ansari)