Annual Report 2022
Sustainability Report 2022
Thomas Wellauer, Chairman of the Board of Directors (right), and Jos Dijsselhof, CEO (left).
Dear Readers
The year 2022 brought fundamental changes to the financial markets, most notably driven by the return of inflation and the increase in interest rates. The war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, recessionary trends, resurgent strains in China-US relations, and continuing instabilities caused by the pandemic posed new challenges to the financial markets and SIX. We actively adapted to this changing environment, and continued to build on our growth strategy.
Key Figures
Business Performance
Despite the increasing macroeconomic challenges, SIX delivered solid results and increased Group operating income by 2.1% year-on-year at constant currencies. The company successfully grew the business in three of four business units. With the integration of BME and the growth of the international business, SIX has expanded its global presence
Read the full comment on the business performance.
Focus
SDX: Finger on the Pulse of Digital Assets
The New Debit Cards: The Number One Means of Payment and a Promise for the Future
Future of Finance Study: a Positive Outlook
Insights into the Business
The seamless and well-coordinated nationwide replacement of the payment slip reduced the numerous invoicing methods to two modern, digital, and secure solutions: one is the QR-bill, which transmits all relevant invoicing information in a QR code, and the other is the fully digital eBill solution, which handles invoices directly in the customer’s online banking.
SIX further developed its regulatory services by extending the coverage of its Sanctioned Securities Monitoring Service to ETFs. This capability, supported by Ultumus, allows clients to identify sanctioned securities within ETFs.
Since March 2022, SIX has been the sole shareholder of REGIS-TR after the acquisition of Clearstream’s 50% stake. REGIS-TR is a leading European trade repository for reporting trades and transactions across multiple product classes and jurisdictions.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and SIX Swiss Exchange officially launched their cooperation in the China-Switzerland Stock Connect program on 28 July 2022. Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) of nine companies were listed on SIX Swiss Exchange over the second half of 2022.
SIX realigned its legal structure for further growth in the international capital market infrastructure business. The consolidation of the three business units Exchanges, Securities Services, and Financial Information in the newly formed SIX Exchange Group Ltd will allow the exchange-related businesses more flexibility to seize market opportunities and develop a strong profile internationally.
On 3 November, UBS issued a digital bond on SIX Digital Exchange (SDX). It is the world’s first digital bond issued by a banking institution on a regulated digital exchange. With dual listing on SDX and SIX Swiss Exchange, the bond is seamlessly traded and settled in both the digital and traditional markets.
Growth Strategy
Growth remains a prerequisite for successfully operating a global platform business. From an industry point of view, SIX operates in a dynamic and attractive market. In October 2022, the Board of Directors confirmed the strategic direction of SIX, taking the new macroeconomic situation into consideration.
The diversified business portfolio puts SIX in a competitive position, allowing the company to tap into the growth opportunities along the entire securities value chain. Seizing these growth opportunities while at the same time ensuring the stability and efficiency of our infrastructure requires continuous investment.
The diligent execution of its ambitious growth strategy ensures that SIX realizes economies of scale and reaches its financial targets.
Sustainability Strategy
In the past year, SIX launched its first group-wide sustainability strategy and has made great initial progress. SIX plays a central role as a financial market infrastructure and as a solutions provider. Our position at the interface between financial markets and business enables us to help shape the transition to a sustainable economy.
Sustainability Report
In 2022, SIX joined the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) and committed to a net-zero target by 2050. Also SIX developed a new ESG product strategy and roadmap through 2025 and launched a range of new ESG and regulatory risk-related data sets and services. The employees, for their part, have been given access to a new intranet platform for internal communications on sustainability topics.