Indices: Reflecting the Market Environment
At the beginning of the year, the Swiss blue chip index SMI® almost crossed the 13,000 point mark, peaking at the all-time high of 12,997.2 points on 3 January 2022. This was followed by a substantial decline to 10,010.8 points on 13 October. At the end of 2022, the SMI stood at 10,729.4 points, a decrease of 16.7% versus the end of 2021.
Listing: Funding Growth and Charting New Territory
In February 2022, SIX welcomed Xlife Sciences (XLS) as the first company in the new Sparks segment dedicated to small and medium enterprises of SIX Swiss Exchange. It was followed by the listings of Talenthouse (THAG), EPIC Suisse (EPIC), Kinarus Therapeutics (KNRS) and Accelleron (ACLN) on the main market of SIX Swiss Exchange. After the launch of the China-Switzerland Stock Connect between SIX Swiss Exchange and the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in July 2022, nine Chinese companies have successfully issued and listed GDRs (Global Depository Receipts) to raise capital outside China.
In total, fourteen companies chose to issue and list equity securities on SIX Swiss Exchange – with an aggregated transaction value of CHF 3.2 billion. In addition, already listed companies were able to raise around CHF 7 billion in equity capital, highlighting how the exchange connects companies with the Swiss financial market and enables them to find financing in challenging times.
A further CHF 114 billion were raised in the debt securities space (bonds and money market papers), out of which bonds raised an equivalent amount of CHF 110 bn in 2022, compared to CHF 93 bn in 2021 (+18.4%). In total, the bonds segment saw 393 new listings, of which 349 are CHF-denominated bonds.
The number of sustainable bonds listed and/or admitted to trading on SIX Swiss Exchange kept growing in 2022 and surpassed the 100 mark, reflecting the global ESG trend and the growing importance of sustainable finance in the Swiss capital market. In total, there are now 108 sustainable bonds tradable on SIX Swiss Exchange with an aggregated nominal volume of around CHF 28 billion.
Product Issuers Broadening the Choice for Investors
In 2022, nine new product issuers joined SIX Swiss Exchange. These include the Structured Product issuer Swissquote and the investment fund issuer Cronos Finance as well as the seven ETP issuers Invesco, Fidelity, Helveteq, Hashdex, Pando Asset, Global X and Leonteq.
Overall, the product issuers have listed 151 new ETFs, 80 new ETPs and 95,207 new structured products. As a result, the Swiss stock exchange offers investors more choice than ever before, with close to 1,700 ETFs and over 55,000 structured products available at the end of the year.
This growth shows that SIX Swiss Exchange’s commitment to transparency, efficiency and reliability as well as the various measures taken to foster growth – in close collaboration with clients – have been successful.
Geographic Expansion of CONNEXOR and Microwave Network
In February 2022, the SIX Swiss Exchange reference data distribution platform CONNEXOR has been made available to warrants issuers in Spain, improving data efficiency while continuing the integration of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) and SIX. CONNEXOR has become a standard in the Swiss market and is used in more than ten other countries worldwide.
In June 2022, SIX expanded its microwave network with a connection between Frankfurt (Equinix FR2) and Bergamo (Aruba IT3). Clients of SIX Swiss Exchange currently benefit from fair and equal access to low-latency market data transmission from Zurich to London, Frankfurt and Milan, from Frankfurt to Bergamo and Milan as well as from London to Milan and to Stockholm.
Swiss-Made. World-Class.
In 2022, SIX Swiss Exchange was once again recognised by clients, partners and the industry as a whole via various awards won across the listing and trading realm. This includes defending its titles as ‘Exchange Group of the Year’ at the FN Trading and Technology Awards and, already for the second time, as ‘Best Structured Products and Derivatives Exchange’ across Europe and the UK at the SRP Europe Awards, while being named Best European Exchange for Listing Cryptocurrency ETPs at the ETF Express European Awards 2022.
Christian Reuss, Head SIX Swiss Exchange, comments on 2022: “Our infrastructure once again proved stable and reliable, allowing us to perform our core functions in the primary and secondary market: enabling capital raising and price formation for the benefit of clients and financial market as well as the real economy and wider public as a whole. Our innovations and improvements will continue to be geared towards market needs to find solutions for the challenges that lie ahead, with and for our clients.”