ZURICH, May 21: Switzerland's finance minister can accept some delay on enacting tough new capital rules for big Swiss banks and said that in the first instance the parent company would be held to the higher capital standards.

The Swiss government has proposed tough big bank capital standards after the state had to bail out UBS during the financial crisis. Parliament is set to debate a bill requiring UBS and Credit Suisse to hold a Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 10 per cent, versus the 7 percent minimum set under Basel III.

The government has said it hopes the plan can go into effect in early 2012 after parliament's upper house votes on it this summer and the lower house in the fall.—Reuters