Talks on tougher capital rules for Switzerland’s top banks UBS and Credit Suisse to prevent future crises are in a final stage and a compromise deal is near, people familiar with the situation said.

Swiss regulators have vowed to bring in stronger capital and liquidity buffers for the two banking giants after UBS was nearly brought to its knees by the ongoing credit turmoil and had to tap investors twice for $29 billion of extra cash this year.

Regulators say new rules are needed to shield Switzerland from systemic risks as the banking sector accounts for 10 percent of gross domestic product and as liabilities at the two big banks are more than seven times the country’s GDP.

Credit Suisse chairman Walter Kielholz said in July stricter rules might endanger the competitiveness of Switzerland’s two bank titans and turn them into takeover candidates.

But Swiss National Bank Vice-Chairman Philipp Hildebrand said last week the deepening of the crisis since Lehman Brothers’ collapse underlined the need for better safeguards.

The new requirements will see higher bank capital ratios — the sums regulatory lenders must put aside against risk — as well as the introduction of a leverage ratio, a limit on leverage expressed as a percentage of capital against total assets, people familiar with the talks said.

Banks will have “at least three years” to adapt to the new system, a source close to the discussions said.