SIX Swiss Exchange has expanded its trading members with the addition of Barclays Bank Ireland, which joins 100 other trading participants currently trading on the stock exchange.
Barclays’ Dublin entity, which has been in operation since 1978 providing corporate banking services to institutional clients, is the first new trading participant to join SIX Swiss Exchange so far this year.
The Swiss stock exchange said in a statement that Barclays joins 100 other participants currently accessing its order book and trading infrastructure. The Irish subsidiary of Barclays will trade alongside other major institutions such as BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
“We are happy to welcome our first new member in 2019, which adds to our exceptional mix of trading participants,” said Gregor Braun, head of sales for Switzerland and Europe for SIX Securities & Exchanges.
SIX currently provides trading in more than 44,000 securities, including equities, sponsored foreign shares, exchange traded funds (ETFs), exchange traded products (ETPs) and structured products. Last year, SIX increased its market share in Swiss blue chip trading from 68.3% to 70.6%.
The stock exchange added that new trading participants joining SIX can be onboarded within the space of four weeks via a “simple and transparent” onboarding procedure which includes establishing trading infrastructure, connectivity and various testing.
Barclays has bolstered its equities trading business over recent years through investment and new product launches. In December, Barclays told The TRADE that its reinvestment has started to pay off after an upgrade to its smart order router saw multi-venue hit rates increase by 10%.