Overview of Indices and Individual Trading Segments
During the course of the year, the Swiss blue chip index SMI® exceeded the 12,000-point mark for the first time. On the last trading day of the year, 30 December 2021, it almost crossed the 13,000 point mark, peaking at the all-time high of 12,980.1 points (intraday value). The lowest value in the course of last year was recorded on 26 February at 10,513.4 points. At the end of the year, the SMI stood at 12,875.7 points, an increase of 20.3% versus the end of 2020.
The performance of other indices per end of 2021 was as follows: The SLI Swiss Leader Index® closed at 2,069.1 points (+23.0%) and the broader-based SPI® at 16,444.5 points (+23.4%). The leading bond index SBI® AAA-BBB Total Return reached 139.3 points (-1.8%). The highest increase was recorded by the SXI LIFE SCIENCES® TR which climbed to 8,410.5 points (+31.8%).
In the equities segment (including funds & ETPs), trading turnover decreased by 28.5% to CHF 1,049.8 billion, and the number of trades fell by 37.9% to 59,899,941. Trading turnover in ETFs fell by 29.2% to CHF 79.6 billion, but a new record of 1,728,788 trades were executed (+3.6%). In terms of CHF bonds, trading turnover decreased by 12.6% and reached CHF 115.6 billion with 245,439 trades (-19.3%). Trading turnover in Non-CHF bonds saw a decrease of 4.2% to reach CHF 17.3 billion, while the number of trades fell by 16.1% to 12,835. Structured products and warrants saw turnover decrease by 10.9% to CHF 20.1 billion, with a total of 778,030 trades (-13.4%).
2021 was another record year for products with crypto currencies as underlyings on SIX Swiss Exchange. For the first time, trading turnover passed the 8-billion mark and reached CHF 8.6 bn, an increase of 673% compared with the previous year (CHF 1.1 bn). The number of transactions has increased more than sixfold: in total, 354,542 trades were carried out in these crypto products, an increase of 634% over 2020 (48,300).
Listing: Charting New Territory
In 2021, five companies chose to go public on SIX Swiss Exchange – for a total transaction value of over CHF 2 billion –, including the first SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company). This year’s first IPO of PolyPeptide Group AG (Ticker Symbol “PPGN”) was also the largest (CHF 848 million), resulting in a market capitalization of CHF 2.4 billion (opening price CHF 72.50 per share). It was followed by the IPOs of Montana Aerospace (AERO) with a market capitalization of CHF 1.4 billion (CHF 29.00), medmix AG (MEDX) with CHF 1,857 million (CHF 45.00), SKAN Group (SKAN) with CHF 1,686 million (CHF 75.00) and VT5 with CHF 222 million (CHF 10.20).
A further CHF 107 billion were raised in the fixed income space including bonds and money market papers, out of which bonds raised an equivalent amount of CHF 93 billion in 2021, compared to CHF 88 bn in 2020 (+5.7%). In total, the bonds segment saw 349 new listings in 2021 (-1.4% vs 2020), of which 321 are CHF-denominated bonds.
In 2021, twelve new product issuers joined SIX Swiss Exchange. These include the two new ETF issuers Tabula, and Global X as well as the two investment fund issuers Baloise Asset Management and Nova Property Fund Management. Overall, the 27 ETF issuers have listed 151 new products this year, bringing the total to 1,561 products. In March 2021, SIX Swiss Exchange was awarded the special prize for a trading venue presented by XENIX for its major contribution to the success of ETFs in Switzerland.
With Exane and Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, there were also two new structured product issuers. Listings in the structured products segment in 2021 amounted to a total of 57,383, which corresponds to a decrease of 5.9% compared to the previous year. As per end of 2021, 41’269 structured products were available to investors (2020: 37,658). After its success in 2020, SIX Swiss Exchange once again won the prestigious SRP Europe 2021 award for ‘Best Structured Products and Derivatives Exchange’ across Europe and the UK.
By far the largest number of new product issuers was welcomed in the ETP segment, with ETC Group, CoinShares, SEBA Bank, Iconic Funds, Van Eck and Ridgex. Overall, the resulting 11 ETP issuers launched a record of 81 products in 2021, of which 74 had crypto currencies as underlying – including seven world premieres –, while seven new ETPs were based on commodities. Structured Products and ETPs combined, there are close to 200 crypto products available to investors. They provide access to 16 crypto currencies (10 more than in 2020) as well as baskets and indices – the largest offering on any regulated exchange.
Swiss-Made. World-Class.
In 2021, SIX Swiss Exchange was recognised by clients, partners and the industry as a whole via various awards won across the listing and trading realm, including ‘Exchange Group of the Year’ at the FN Trading and Technology Awards.
Christian Reuss, Head SIX Swiss Exchange, comments on 2021: “In the listing space, we have ventured into new territory: we welcomed the first ever SPAC in Switzerland and launched the Sparks segment. In the trading space, we could again successfully compete for our market share in Swiss equity trading, which we did in our usual fashion: by enabling our participants to trade more efficiently on our market via new offerings such as Swiss EBBO or Block orders for SwissAtMid.”
Detailed statistics on turnover and transaction volumes per segment, on newly listed products and on the development of the most important indices can be found in the tables below. The website of SIX provides access to an extensive information offering.