SWX Swiss Exchange
Encyclopedia
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, is Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
's principal stock exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
(the other being Berne eXchange). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other securities
Security (finance)
A security is generally a fungible, negotiable financial instrument representing financial value. Securities are broadly categorized into:* debt securities ,* equity securities, e.g., common stocks; and,...
such as Swiss government bond
Government bond
A government bond is a bond issued by a national government denominated in the country's own currency. Bonds are debt investments whereby an investor loans a certain amount of money, for a certain amount of time, with a certain interest rate, to a company or country...
s and derivatives
Derivative (finance)
A derivative instrument is a contract between two parties that specifies conditions—in particular, dates and the resulting values of the underlying variables—under which payments, or payoffs, are to be made between the parties.Under U.S...
such as stock options.
The main stock market index
Stock market index
A stock market index is a method of measuring a section of the stock market. Many indices are cited by news or financial services firms and are used as benchmarks, to measure the performance of portfolios such as mutual funds....
for the SIX Swiss Exchange is the SMI, the Swiss Market Index
Swiss Market Index
The Swiss Market Index is Switzerland's blue-chip stock market index, which makes it the most important in the country. It is made up of twenty of the largest and most liquid SPI large- and mid-cap stocks...
. The index consists of the 20 most significant equity-securities based on the free float market capitalisation.
SIX Swiss Exchange was the first stock exchange in the world to incorporate a fully automated trading, clearing and settlement system in 1995. The exchange is controlled by an association of 55 banks. Each of these banks have equal voting rights in the matter of decision making concerning the management and regulation of the exchange.
SIX Swiss Exchange is the joint owner of Eurex
Eurex
Eurex is one of the world's leading derivatives exchanges, providing European benchmark derivatives featuring open and low-cost electronic access globally...
, the world's largest futures and derivatives exchange along with their German partners Deutsche Börse
Deutsche Börse
Deutsche Börse AG is a marketplace organizer for the trading of shares and other securities. It also is a transaction services provider. It gives companies and investors access to global capital markets. It is a joint stock company and was founded in 1993. The headquarters are in Frankfurt,...
. In July 2004 however SIX Swiss Exchange rejected a merger proposal from the German company, that analysts anticipated as profitable for many small companies listed on SIX Swiss Exchange.
The exchange has a blue-chip index as its principal stock market index
Stock market index
A stock market index is a method of measuring a section of the stock market. Many indices are cited by news or financial services firms and are used as benchmarks, to measure the performance of portfolios such as mutual funds....
. The Swiss Market Index (SMI) comprises a maximum of twenty of the largest and most liquid large and mid-cap SPI stocks.
History
- Replacement of floor tradingFloor tradingFloor trading is where traders or stock brokers meet at a specific venue referred to as a trading floor or pit to buy and sell financial instruments using open outcry method to communicate which each other. These venues are typically stock exchanges or futures exchanges and transactions are...
systems at GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
(est.1850), BaselBaselBasel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
(est.1866) and ZurichZürichZurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
(est.1873) stock exchanges by fully automated system SWX (1995) - World's first fully automated trading, clearing and settlement system (est.1995)
- Since 2007 Deutsche BörseDeutsche BörseDeutsche Börse AG is a marketplace organizer for the trading of shares and other securities. It also is a transaction services provider. It gives companies and investors access to global capital markets. It is a joint stock company and was founded in 1993. The headquarters are in Frankfurt,...
and SIX Swiss Exchange have operated the joint venture Scoach to provide a derivatives trading platform - Purchased virt-x cross-border electronic exchange in 2002, which it later renamed SWX EuropeSWX EuropeSWX Europe, formerly virt-x , is an electronic cross-border share trading platform. It is operating since 1995 as TRADEPOINT in the UK...
. - Was renamed SIX Swiss Exchange in 2008
- Merged with SIS Group and Telekurs GroupSIX TelekursSIX Telekurs is a Financial Data Vendor and specializes in procuring, processing and distributing international financial information. Financial market specialists at SIX Telekurs gather information from all the world’s major trading venues – directly and in real-time...
in 2008 to form SIX Group.
Other Services
SIX Group as well as being a stock exchange provides a number of other services through separate subsidiaries, these include;- SIX x-clear Ltd providing clearing and acts as the central counterparty for clearing trades.
- SIX SIS Ltd which provides securities settlement and custody servicesCentral Securities DepositoryA Central Securities Depository is an organization holding securities either in certificated or uncertificated form, to enable book entry transfer of securities. In some cases these organizations also carry out centralized comparison, and transaction processing such as clearing and settlement of...
. - SIX SAG Ltd providing share registry service.
- SIX TelekursSIX TelekursSIX Telekurs is a Financial Data Vendor and specializes in procuring, processing and distributing international financial information. Financial market specialists at SIX Telekurs gather information from all the world’s major trading venues – directly and in real-time...
providing financial information services. - SIX pay, multipay, card solutions providing payment services within Switzerland and Europe.
- SIX Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) providing interbank clearing or Real Time Gross SettlementReal Time Gross SettlementReal time gross settlement systems are funds transfer systems where transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to another on a "real time" and on "gross" basis. Settlement in "real time" means payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period. The transactions are settled...
on behalf of the central bank of Switzerland the Swiss National BankSwiss National BankThe Swiss National Bank is the central bank of Switzerland. It is responsible for Swiss monetary policy and for issuing Swiss franc banknotes.The names of the institution in the four official languages of the country are: ; ; ; ....
. SIC became part of the SIX Group in 2008 as part of a merger of the financial market infrastructure providers in Switzerland.