Bank and Insurance company preferred stocks are now (as of 2017) required to be non-cumulative in respect to dividends if they want the equity to count as “Tier 1” capital, which is a core measure of financial strength. This has been the case since the financial crisis of 2008-2009 when many banks required bail outs from the federal government. This is a measure that is intended to allow a bank to strengthen their financials if there is another crisis by suspending dividends and not have to pay them later on.
Dividends from preferred stock of banks and insurance companies do qualify for the preferential tax treatment from the U.S. IRS. This means that dividends are taxed at the capital gains tax rate instead of the normally higher ordinary income tax rate.
Below we list the currently available $25/share preferreds that are available from banks and insurance companies.
A link on the ticker symbol takes you to the issue recap page with a price chart.
If issue is marked FRR it is a ‘fixed rate reset’ issue. If it is marked FF it is a ‘fixed to floating’ rate issue. If it is marked FLR it is a pure ‘floater’.
Click the tab on the top of the chart for either alphabetical or by current yield.