Bank Preferred Stocks

Every bank-issued preferred we track, by current yield · updated after each session · data as of October 8, 2026 (end-of-day, not real-time)

Banks are the largest single source of preferred stock on the market. We track bank-issued preferreds from about thirty institutions, from Bank of America and Wells Fargo down to regional names like Live Oak and Dime Community.

They are also the category where the fine print matters most. Every bank preferred in this list shares one feature that works against you, and it is not an accident: it is a regulatory requirement. Here is the list, ranked by current yield, followed by what that feature means for your income.

Yields use the latest price and declared dividend. Figures are end-of-day, not real-time.

Every bank preferred is non-cumulative, and regulators require it

On a cumulative preferred, a skipped dividend still belongs to you: it piles up as arrears and must be paid in full before the company pays common shareholders a cent. On a non-cumulative preferred, a skipped dividend is simply gone. You have no claim to it, ever.

Of the bank preferreds in the table above, none are cumulative. That is not the banks being stingy, it is bank capital rules. A preferred share only counts toward a bank's regulatory capital if the bank can stop paying it without triggering a default. The very feature that would protect your income disqualifies the security from doing the job the bank issued it to do.

In practice this rarely bites, because a bank that suspends its preferred dividend cannot pay its common dividend either, and that is a step boards avoid. But it is the reason bank preferreds are structurally weaker for an income investor than the utility or REIT preferreds sitting next to them.

You are paid less for that, not more

The intuition would be that a weaker structure pays a premium. It does not. Bank preferreds average roughly a point less current yield than the preferred market as a whole, in exchange for terms that are worse on paper.

The market is pricing credit, not structure. It treats a large, regulated, federally supervised bank as a safer place for your principal than a smaller REIT or shipping company, and prices the income accordingly. Whether that trade suits you depends on which risk you actually lose sleep over: the issuer failing, or the dividend stopping.

Three things to check before you buy one

The call date. Most bank preferreds are callable about five years after issue, and the large majority of this list trades below its $25 face value, so the discount, not the coupon, is doing a lot of the work in that yield figure.

Whether the rate resets. Roughly a quarter of these do not pay a fixed rate for life: they pay a fixed coupon until a reset date and then follow a benchmark. The income you are underwriting today may not be the income you receive in three years.

The size of the bank. This list runs from the largest US banks to regional lenders. The yield gap between them is the market telling you something about credit, and 2023 was a reminder that regional bank risk is real rather than theoretical.

Frequently asked questions

Are bank preferred stocks safe?

Safer than the same bank's common stock and riskier than its bonds. The specific risk to know is that every bank preferred is non-cumulative, so a suspended dividend is never repaid. Large banks are heavily regulated and rarely suspend, but the protection you would want is absent by design.

Why are bank preferred stocks non-cumulative?

Because bank capital rules require it. A preferred only counts toward regulatory capital if the bank can stop paying it without defaulting, which rules out the cumulative feature. Every bank preferred we track is non-cumulative.

Which banks issue preferred stock?

Most large US banks do, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, Fifth Third and Capital One, alongside dozens of regional lenders. Bank of America alone accounts for more than a dozen of the issues we track.

Do bank preferred dividends qualify for lower tax rates?

Many do, unlike REIT preferred dividends: bank preferreds are typically issued by C-corporations, so their dividends are often qualified if you meet the IRS holding-period rule. Tax treatment depends on your circumstances; check with a tax professional.

Background reading: cumulative vs non-cumulative and are preferred stocks safe? To compare these against other sectors, use the screener. Nothing here is investment advice; figures are end-of-day and for informational purposes only.