BERLIN (Reuters) - Swiss financial watchdog Finma said on Thursday it welcomed a decision by UBS UBSG.S and Credit Suisse CSGN.S to pay out half of their dividends for 2019 in the fourth quarter of 2020 despite their strong capital decisions.

“Finma sees these precautionary measure taken by both institutes as a way to responsibly deal with the great uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis and shareholders’ expectations,” it said in a statement.