China Cashes In

Investing Daily Article of the Week by Ben Shepherd, Investing Daily Despite the existence of funds such as Matthews China Dividend (MCDFX), steadily growing dividends are actually tough to find in the Middle Kingdom. Although a number of Chinese companies pay dividends at some level, as a rule they prefer to retain most of their cash for a rainy day or future investment.Chinese regulators have long been aware of that tendency and have been trying to encourage Chinese companies to pay more attention to their dividend policies. When Guo Shuqing was appointed to the top post at China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in 2011, the agency announced new policies aimed at requiring companies to improve their payout ratios and decision-making mechanisms, as well the transparency of their dividend policies.However, those reforms largely fell by the wayside, as many companies com...