SIX launches world’s first digital bond

On November 18, SIX placed the world’s first digital bond in a fully regulated environment via its holding company, SIX Group AG. This is an unsecured, digital bond in Swiss francs with a total volume of 150 million Swiss francs, maturing in 2026. According to the information provided, the bond was oversubscribed several times. Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank, and Zürcher Kantonalbank acted as joint lead managers.

The bond consists of two parts: the digital part (Part A) is listed and traded on SDX Trading AG. It is centrally held by SIX Digital Exchange AG. It amounts to 100 million Swiss francs of the total issue volume. Part B of the bond is listed and traded on SIX Swiss Exchange AG. It is centrally held by SIX SIS AG. The coupon and yield amount to 0.125 percent per year.

CFO of SIX Daniel Schmucki describes this as an “innovative and historic transaction”, adding that it has been supported by the most important Swiss market participants. Thomas Zeeb, Global Head Exchanges at SIX, comments: “The first issue of a tokenized bond on the SIX Digital Exchange as well as its listing and placement in the market proves that the forward-looking distributed ledger technology (DLT) also works very well in the highly regulated capital market. This transaction marks the beginning of a new era.”