Swiss lower house rejects plan to submit all UBS capital rules to parliament

BERN (Reuters) -Swiss lawmakers on Monday rejected a proposal to give parliament the power to shape incoming banking regulation in its entirety, reducing the likelihood that some new capital rules for UBS are delayed.

The decision by the lower house means that stricter valuation requirements for assets like software or deferred tax assets may come into force in 2027, as initially planned.

Parliament's upper chamber still has to debate the same issue next week, which could send the proposal back to the lower house later in the year.

Earlier this year, parliamentary committees had backed the idea of turning over all the regulation to federal lawmakers.

The government in June presented a long-awaited plan to tighten Swiss banking rules following the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse, which was subsequently acquired by UBS.

The plan foresees UBS needing to find up to $26 billion in additional core capital to ward against potential crises.

It envisaged that rules in the package to be issued directly by the government, without parliamentary consultation, could account for around $3 billion of the total.

UBS has criticised the new capital proposals, arguing they are not proportionate and risk putting the bank at a disadvantage against international competitors.

(Reporting by Ariane LuthiEditing by Dave Graham)