Today the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) announced the latest new member, Raiffeisen Switzerland. It’s not a huge surprise as the bank was the joint lead manager of a recent Zurich digital bond alongside co-leads UBS and Zürcher Kantonalbank.
With the merger of UBS and Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen Switzerland is now the second largest banking group in Switzerland. It’s structured as a cooperative.
SIX Digital Exchange holds FINMA licenses as both a regulated digital securities exchange and a central securities depository (CSD). It’s been at the forefront of numerous digital securities innovations as the first regulated exchange, launching two years ago.
Most recently it is host to wholesale central bank digital currency (wholesale CBDC) pilots with the Swiss National Bank (SNB). This enables atomic settlement, where the transfer of assets and money happens simultaneously removing counterparty risk. So far the wholesale CBDC has been used for at least two bond issuances.
Additionally, its integration with the conventional SIX CSD (SIX SIS) enables a broad range of traditional finance (TradFi) institutions to access digital securities.
“By joining the SDX ecosystem, Raiffeisen Switzerland increases its footprint and experience in digital assets with the aim of actively contributing to the development of the digital assets industry and product landscape”, says Werner Leuthard, Head of Trading at Raiffeisen Switzerland.”
We believe the addition of Raiffeisen brings the SDX membership to at least a dozen institutions, up from five in August. SDX predicted that wholesale CBDC trials would help to expand and it clearly has.
Members include Basler Kantonalbank, Berner Kantonalbank, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, CM-Equity, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, Kaiser Partner Privatbank, Raiffeisen Switzerland, SIX SIS, UBS and Zürcher Kantonalbank.
