SIX Swiss Exchange

The SIX Swiss Exchange is Switzerland's principal stock exchange. It is part of the cash market division of SIX Group. That division also encompasses the London-based international securities exchange SWX Europe (formerly virt-x) as well as the financial market data vendor SIX Exfeed. 
SIX Group was formed at the beginning of 2008 through the merger of SWX Group, SIS Group and Telekurs Group.
The SIX Swiss Exchange has also engaged in joint ventures with the European index provider STOXX, as well as Swiss Fund Data.
 
== History ==
The SIX Swiss Exchange was founded as the "Schweizer Börse/Bourse Suisse/Borsa Svizzera/Swiss Exchange" in 1993, with the merger of Switzerland’s three stock exchanges in Geneva (founded in 1850), Zurich (1873) and Basle (1876) completed in 1995. Electronic trading was introduced the following year, and floor trading ended.
SOFFEX, the Swiss derivatives market, merged with Germany's DTB to form Eurex. Eurex is jointly operated by Deutsche Boerse AG and SIX Swiss Exchange, which holds 50 percent of the voting rights and 15 percent of the share capital. The agreement was extended for a further 10 years in 2003.
The SIX New Market segment for growth companies was launched in 1999, with the Virt-X platform for pan-European blue-chip stocks launched in 2001. The SIX Swiss Exchange changed its legal status from an association to a joint-stock company in 2002.
The Exchange announced in early March 2011 that they expanded their transparency tool, Equity Liquidity Matrix, to include all SPI Securities. With service to the Mid & Small Cap Securities, the SIX Swiss Exchange aims to further increase market transparency and educate the public on the negative effects of market fragmentation. 
On November 10, 2017, SIX announced the decision of its board of directors to reorganize the company and to appoint Jos Dijsselhof as the new CEO. Dijsselhof took up his position on 1 January 2018 and on January 15, 2018, SIX announced the composition of the new group executive board, which took over the operational management of SIX on April 1, 2018.
=== Switzerland & EU Dispute ===
Although it is not a member of the European Union, Switzerland more than 100 bilateral agreements with the bloc and makes a financial contribution to the EU. Switzerland and the EU had for years been attempting to negotiate a deal to replace the more than 100 bilateral agreements that defined their relationship. When Switzerland dragged its feet on ratifying a new agreement in June 2019, Europe said it would no longer recognize Swiss stock markets as having the same status as those of EU members. In return, Switzerland ordered EU exchanges to stop trading Swiss stocks. Violating the order could carry criminal liability.
The stock market equivalence granted to Switzerland by the European Commission expired in July 2019. As a result, foreign venues are required to have authorization to trade Swiss shares. More than 300 Swiss shares were removed from trading on EU venues starting July 1. 
== Products and Services ==
Product categories include equities, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), structured products and warrants. As of 2012, SIX Swiss Exchange is the third largest exchange in Europe by market capitalization, behind LSE Group and NYSE Euronext.
On July 22, 2019 SIX announced it was launching a service covering more than 30,000 securities in connection with Marijuana Related Businesses (MRB) after the success of its SIX Sanctioned Securities Monitoring Service. MRB-related securities can span several sectors, including pharmaceutical,recreational, transport and retail, making it complex for firms to control their exposure, the announcement said. The MRB Securities service, built on the same model as the Sanctioned Securities Monitoring Service, identifies and lists securities that are either directly or indirectly issued by listed MRB entities.
In March 2022, SIX partnered with the FX and cryptocurrency exchange operator LMAX Group to launch centrally cleared crypto-asset futures on LMAX Exchange.
== Key People ==
*Jos Dijsselhof, Chief Executive Officer
*Christoph Landis, Head of IT
*Daniel Schmucki, CFO
*Jochen Dürr, Chief Risk Officer
*Thomas Zeeb, Head of Securities & Exchanges
== Acquisitions and Initiatives ==
On December 17, 2012 Six Group agreed to a deal to acquire 100 percent of Oslo Clearing from Oslo Børs for NOK 180 million (approximately $32 million).
On July 6, 2018 SIX announced plans to launch a fully regulated cryptocurrency exchange to be overseen by the Swiss national bank and Swiss regulator FINMA. Switzerland has been one of the most crypto-friendly jurisdictions in Europe, and its regulators have given clear guidance on how they expect crypto companies to operate.
On July 12, 2018, Nasdaq announced it would provide clearing and real-time risk management technology to SIX via the Nasdaq Financial Framework. The technology will support SIX's clearing of pan-European equities and Nordic derivatives.
SIX and Shanghai Stock Exchange entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2015, which they renewed in 2019 with the intention of deepening their collaboration, which was enabled by the signing of a free trade agreement between Switzerland and China in 2013 and the currency agreement between the Swiss National Bank and the People’s Bank of China in 2014.
SDX, also known as SIX Digital Exchange, was established by SIX Group in 2019 to execute on the company's digital asset and blockchain strategies.
SIX acquired the Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) in June of 2020 for 2.8 billion euros. In June 2021, SIX said it planned to migrate trading services for equities, fixed income and equity-like instruments into the SIX platform alongside market data dissemination for both Swiss and Spanish markets. The migration will not include derivatives trading and services. It is expected to be completed between the fourth quarter in 2022 and the second quarter in 2023.
== Resources ==
*SIX Swiss Exchange Web site
*Eurex Web site
*Scoach Web site
== References ==
Category:European Exchanges
Category:Exchanges
Category:MarketsWiki Page of the Day