Banco Popular chairman says does not expect 2016 dividend payment

MADRID (Reuters) - Banco Popular Chairman Angel Ron said on Thursday Spain's sixth-biggest lender by assets did not expect to pay a dividend in 2016 after it announced a 2.5-billion-euro (1.90 billion pounds) rights issue earlier. "We should not expect it," Ron told Reuters in a telephone interview when asked about the bank's 2016 dividend policy following the announcement. Ron also said the bank's losses in 2016 would not exceed the amount to be raised in the capital increase. He said the rest of the Spanish banking sector should follow Popular's example given current ultra-low interest rates and more stringent capital requirements. The decision to raise capital was not dictated by the European Central Bank, he said. (Reporting By Jesús Aguado y Jose Elías Rodríguez; editing by Paul Day)