{"text":[[{"start":10,"text":"Swiss finance minister Karin Keller-Sutter has hit out at lawmakers’ efforts to water down plans to force a $20bn capital increase on UBS, escalating the political battle over the future regulation of the country’s biggest bank."}],[{"start":24.6,"text":"Keller-Sutter said on Tuesday that a compromise plan proposed by an influential parliamentary committee was an undue concession to UBS, and raised the prospect of the final proposals being put to a public referendum."}],[{"start":36.84,"text":"“This is a solution in favour of the bank and against taxpayers,” she said."}],[{"start":42.32,"text":"Her comments came after lawmakers on Switzerland’s economic affairs and taxation committee on Monday proposed easing one of the central elements of the government’s planned bank capital reforms."}],[{"start":53.28,"text":"The government in April proposed forcing UBS to fully capitalise its foreign subsidiaries with common equity tier one (CET1) capital — the most expensive form of bank capital — resulting in a $20bn capital hit."}],[{"start":66.52,"text":"However, the committee said UBS should be allowed to use cheaper AT1 debt to cover half of the capitalisation of its foreign units, significantly reducing the overall burden."}],[{"start":76.68,"text":"While the committee’s intervention has been seen as a partial win for UBS, it still needs to be accepted by a majority of lawmakers in the Swiss parliament, which is due to start debating the reforms later this month."}],[{"start":88.36,"text":"UBS said on Tuesday that it “acknowledged the efforts” of the committee to “consider alternatives to the Federal Council’s extreme proposals on banking regulation”. It added that it had “taken important facts and context into account to inform its recommendations”, but said the recommendations “would lead to a significant increase in costs for UBS”."}],[{"start":107.84,"text":"The bank estimated that the committee’s proposal would require it to have about $13bn in additional “tier one capital”, which could be met entirely with cheaper AT1 debt, compared with about $20bn in additional CET1 under the government’s plan."}],[{"start":122.52,"text":"Keller-Sutter, who spearheaded the government’s reforms in the wake of Credit Suisse’s 2023 demise, said on Tuesday she was confident that the committee’s compromise proposal would not survive the parliamentary process."}],[{"start":134.32,"text":"She said she was “not surprised” by the committee’s proposal, adding that “lobbying in parliament is so strong”."}],[{"start":141.12,"text":"While the government has said the reforms are necessary to stave off another Credit Suisse-style collapse — which UBS acquired in a state-orchestrated takeover — UBS has called the measures excessive and said they would damage its ability to compete internationally."}],[{"start":156.52,"text":"UBS executives have privately warned that failure to ease the proposals could push the bank to move its headquarters out of Switzerland to a more favourable jurisdiction."}],[{"start":166.16,"text":"Anke Reingen, co-head of global financials research at RBC Capital Markets, said the lawmakers’ compromise proposal was “important as it should set the parliamentary process on a certain path”."}],[{"start":178.04,"text":"Shares in UBS were trading 1.8 per cent lower by mid-afternoon in Zurich."}],[{"start":187.32,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788308467_1337.mp3"}