Swiss exchange operator SIX has said it will aim to preserve more than 70% market share in Swiss share trading following its equivalence agreement with the UK.
In the exchange’s annual report 2020, SIX stated that the Swiss Stock Exchange remains the preferred venues and liquidity pool for Swiss stocks and it intends to keep much of its market share.
“SIX welcomes the revival of competition and will strive to maintain a market share of over 70%,” the annual report said.
The exchange’s market share in Swiss equities trading surged to almost 100% after the suspension of EU equivalence in July 2019, which consolidated trading across Europe in Swiss stocks at SIX.
More than a year later, the UK and Switzerland came to agreement on exchange equivalence and in February, UK venues including Cboe, the London Stock Exchange and Aquis Exchange, re-listed over 200 previously removed Swiss-listed securities for trading.
SIX welcomed the competition with the UK venues, stating that it has “always supported open and international capital markets”, and that more competition is “in the interests of national and international investors”.
Before EU equivalence was suspended and more than 300 Swiss stocks were de-listed from multiple venues, roughly 30% of Swiss equities were traded on venues based mainly in the UK.
Elsewhere in the 2020 annual report, SIX said it plans to drive forward with the integration of Spanish stock exchange BME, which acquired in June for €2.8 billion after initially confirming the deal in November 2019.
SIX plans to combine its securities business with BME’s across regions and divide the combined entity into a separate trading markets unit and post-trading activities securities services unit.
“In order to grow organically we need to increase the transaction volumes on our infrastructure, extend our geographical reach, improve our profitability, and continue to foster a positive and open corporate culture,” said Jos Dijsselhof, chief executive officer at SIX Group, in the report.
“The acquisition of the Spanish stock exchange operator BME, completed in 2020, will help us on all these points. SIX and BME are an outstanding match along the entire securities value chain. The merger will strengthen the competitiveness of both the Swiss and Spanish financial centres.”