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(Bloomberg) — The parliamentary debate of new capital requirements for UBS Group AG earlier this month focused only on softening the government plan, putting the process on track for an outcome below the current estimate of $20 billion.
Lawmakers in the Upper House’s Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee made a large number of change requests on May 4, including demands to cut the planned increase by half or even more, or to link it to the size of UBS’s foreign operations, people familiar with the matter said. Each one would lessen the capital impact on the bank, and not a single proposal sought to strengthen it, the people said, asking not be identified discussing confidential deliberations.
The changes discussed in the parliament committee indicate consensus across party lines that the government’s current plans are too far-reaching, even if there’s also broad agreement that UBS’s capital requirements need to go up.
Representatives for the government and the parliament declined to comment.
