Investments in a Stable and Competitive Infrastructure Paid Off
SIX operates in a challenging global environment characterized by (cyclical) market volatility, consolidation, and technological progress. In the year under review, COVID-19 exacerbated the challenges for financial market infrastructures in many respects and the pandemic also accelerated trends such as digitalization. Thanks to new products and services, SIX kept pace with market developments and was able to generate further growth from these.
SIX aims for more volumes through innovative products at competitive prices.
In the Securities & Exchanges business unit, SIX added to the number of products that are tradable on the Swiss Stock Exchange and, in the Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) segment, even listed the first actively managed cryptocurrency ETP on a regulated exchange.
On its repo trading platform, SIX launched a new Triparty Agent product, bringing enhanced automation to collateral and liquidity management.
With its majority stake in 12H AG, SIX also took over Europe’s largest microwave network, which enables the fastest possible transmission of market data between trading venues. In a joint venture with Nasdaq, SIX set up further connections between Stockholm and London, in addition to the network taken over from 12H.
BME launched the distribution of Latam Exchanges Data (LED). This provides benchmark information for the Latin American financial markets. BME has been operating a platform –Latibex – for the trading of Latin American securities in Euro since 1999, under the supervision of the Spanish financial market supervisor. This gives European investors efficient access to the Latin American market. For its newly launched data service, BME is collaborating with the Mexican Stock Exchange.
In the Financial Information business unit, SIX entered the market for data provision to front offices in asset management with a tax data service. The SIX Tax Score uses financial data on individual securities and complex financial products to calculate a tax cost indicator for the relevant investments on a daily basis. This provides a guide to the tax costs of future investments, for example, or can help in the tax optimization of an investment portfolio.
In the Banking Services business unit, SIX, in close collaboration with various banks, launched the latest generation of debit cards with digital and mobile services such as tokenization, the debiX app, and the security standard 3D Secure 2. In this way, SIX will continue to share in the growth of e-commerce and mobile payments.
With the open banking hub “b.Link” launched in May, SIX also created the basis for open banking in Switzerland. “b.Link” enables secure data exchange between financial institutions and third-party providers (e.g. fintech firms) in line with legal requirements. Using standardized interfaces (APIs), they can exchange data without the need for additional individual contracts, and on this basis they can develop innovative services. A European collaboration with LUXHUB agreed in September will enable new applications in open banking to be identified and tested across different markets.