SIX announces its intention to integrate SIX x-clear and BME Clearing into one multi-asset CCP with global presence as well as interoperable links in the cash equity segment. Presently being subject to required regulatory approvals, SIX will aim to “create a single multi-asset clearing house.”
SIX operates two CCPs, SIX x-clear in Switzerland and BME Clearing in Spain.
At present, the two clearing houses “collaborate but maintain separate local entities and systems.”
As a unified clearing house, SIX Clearing, as it will be named, will “gain scale, optimize processes and create a foundation for growth in all segments.”
The acquisition of BME by SIX laid the foundation for “a pan-European growth platform and strengthened SIX’s position in EU capital markets.”
This latest strategic project merges SIX x-clear and BME Clearing into one single, “multi-asset CCP headquartered in Madrid with presences in Zurich and Oslo.”
The unified CCP is designed to enhance “resilience, efficiency and competition across European financial markets.”
The interoperability links and functions of SIX x-clear will be transferred to the consolidated CCP, “making the new CCP a true pan-European interoperable cash equity CCP.”
SIX Clearing will continue to support the adoption of “interoperability across Europe to enhance efficiency in European financial markets.”
The existing EU license under BME Clearing will give SIX Clearing “access to European Central Bank (ECB) EUR liquidity, T2 and T2S and other EU relevant regulated markets and MTFs. ”
The combined CCP will bring together SIX x-clear’s interoperable pan-European cash equity model with BME Clearing’s multi-asset strengths, creating an “alternative for clearing across asset classes in Europe.”
In another update, it was noted that SIX welcomes Columbia Threadneedle Investments as a new issuer of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
The global asset manager is expanding investors’ access to actively managed strategies at the Swiss Exchange with the “listing of two active ETFs, each tradable in two currencies.”
These multicurrency and actively managed ETFs aim to provide investors with long-term exposure by investing “primarily in listed equities and equity-related securities, offering targeted access to Europe and the U.S., respectively.”
Each Fund allocates at least “80% of its assets to its core – European and U.S. companies, respectively – listed or traded on regulated markets, and is managed with reference to an appropriate index: MSCI Europe for the Europe ETF and Russell 1000 for the U.S. ETF.”
With this launch, SIX reportedly hosts 35 ETF issuers offering a total of 2,100 ETFs – making it one of Europe’s diverse ETF marketplaces. So far this year, 298 new ETFs have been listed “at SIX Swiss Exchange, including 111 actively managed products – the highest number of new active ETF listings in eight years.”