Amid a time of crisis for the financial industry, shareholders of BB&T Corp., one of the largest U.S. regional banks, will continue to see steady dividend payments for fourth straight quarter although payout growth is slowing compared to previous years.

The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bank announced on Tuesday that it will pay out its second quarter dividend of 47 cents per share on May 1.

The bank's dividend payments have risen every four quarters since its last stock split in 1998 where they started at 17.5 cents per share.

The rate of dividend growth has fallen in recent years, however. After nine years of 30 cents per share growth every four quarters, dividend growth slowed to 20 cents per share in August of 2007 and diminished again to 10 cents per share in November of last year.

Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan, among the nation's largest banks have recently cut their dividends as they confront a challenging economy and financial markets credit crisis.

The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based bank has $152 billion in assets and is the nation's 11th largest financial holding company.

Citigroup Bank of america Investment