This study aims to investigate the behaviour of pay‐out policy of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) listed firms preceding and following financial crisis to see whether dividend policy appears as significant measure to protect the general shareholders' interest following the crisis in 1997‐1998.
Ordinary least square models are tested on DSE data preceding (1988‐1997) and following the financial crisis (1999‐2003), on which no other study has been conducted yet.
The empirical results fail to trace noticeable improvements in pay‐out policy following the market crisis.
Dividend policy does not appear as a significant measure to protect the shareholders' interest in the emerging market of Bangladesh and regulatory reforms following the financial crisis in 1997‐1998 appears as ineffective in Bangladesh.
The unique features of this study are that it is the first study of this kind in the stock market of Bangladesh and the data are captured preceding and following the financial crisis in 1997‐1998.
