President Barack Obama's proposals to split traditional banking activities from riskier areas will harm U.S. banks without international co-ordination, a prominent Swiss banker said in Monday's Financial Times.

While financial sector stability is crucial to the U.S. recovery, targeting its banks unilaterally could hit their perceived competitiveness, Patrick Odier, chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association, was quoted as saying.

"Rather than breaking up institutions it could be more appropriate to make use of risk-adjusted capital requirements," he was quoted as saying.

Odier, a senior partner at Geneva-based Lombard Odier, was upbeat on the outlook for Swiss private banking, and said adequate regulation had underpinned the robustness of the country's financial system.

"I think the outlook is positive," he said.

"The Swiss financial center has done well during the crisis and weathered the turbulence much better than some others."