I confess to being a little perplexed by regulators who are still restricting dividend payouts at banks, especially here in Asia. Are our Asian banks in a worse position than their US counterparts? The US Federal Reserve has announced that most American banks will be able to pay out dividends and buy back shares after the end of June. Last year, the US central bank told American banks to stop those buybacks and limit dividend payments. The move came as a huge blow to income investors. But the central bank has deemed that American banks are now strong enough to withstand an economic downturn, should one happen. The announcement follows on the heels of the relaxation by the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority that has allowed banks to resume paying dividends. But the regulator did say that any distributions should be prudent. However, many Asian banks are still restrained from a resumption of normal dividend payments....