UPDATE 2-Swiss regulator, big banks agree new capital rules

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ZURICH, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Switzerland's bank regulator reached a deal with UBS AG (UBSN.VX) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) on stricter bank capital requirements and said on Thursday it expected international rules to move in the same direction.

The new rules, whose broad outline had already been made public, will include the introduction of a leverage ratio for the two banks and higher capital adequacy targets, the Swiss Federal Banking Commission said in a statement.

"Switzerland has been quick to learn the lessons of the ongoing financial crisis," commission director Daniel Zuberbuehler said in a statement. "International standards will go in the same direction."

The leverage ratio is a nominal cap on a bank's debt level regardless of the risks involved.

The banks will have until 2013 to meet the new capital adequacy requirements, subject to profits earned in future periods, but the deadline can be extended depending on the situation on the financial markets.

Credit Suisse said in October it could already meet the new rules after it raised about 10 billion francs in new capital, while UBS, whose capital position is not as strong as its rival, has said it needs more time to comply.

Credit Suisse said on Thursday it is cutting another 5,300 jobs as it announced it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in October and November.

But it said its capital position remained strong and forecast a tier 1 ratio -- a key measure of financial strength -- of about 13 percent at the end of the year.[nL4398192]

UBS, which agreed a 6 billion Swiss franc ($4.96 billion) capital injection from the Swiss government in October, said its tier 1 ratio would have been 11.9 percent at the end of September taking into account the state bailout.

The new capital adequacy target ratio will be in a range of between 50 and 100 percent above the international minimum requirement of Basel II, a risk-based capital framework that aims to ensure that banks worldwide meet similar requirements for matching reserves to the risks they face.

The Swiss regulator said that even though existing Swiss rules demanded an extra buffer of 20 percent over the Basel II rules that were already deemed conservative by international standards, they were inadequate in the recent turbulence.

The new Swiss rules also set a group leverage ratio that is designed to cap leverage to 3 percent of capital against total assets. The ratio will be 4 percent for the parent company. (Reporting by Emma Thomasson and Lisa Jucca; Editing by David Holmes and Hans Peters)