SIX crosses the Atlantic and opens office in the United States

SIX has taken a major step forward in its international growth strategy by setting up a US-based entity, SIX SIS USA Inc. as it opens its first office in the United States.

The Financial Market Infrastructure operating the Central Securities Depository (CSD) in Switzerland and Spain has become a very respected brand within the industry as it provides integrated international custody services worldwide.

Its comprehensive high-quality securities services to Banks, Private Banks, Wealth Managers, Broker Dealers and other clients across the global financial sector have helped SIX build a reputation that has only pushed the Group toward business expansion. After acquiring Spanish exchange BME in 2020 for over €2.5 billion, the exchange group has set an eye on the United States.

Javier Hernani, Head Securities Services at SIX, said: “In line with its international growth strategy SIX has now expanded its custody services in the US in order to provide its customers with time zone bespoke support, gather relevant market intelligence across the continent, build up relevant American market know-how and make such know-how available to Swiss, internationally and also locally domiciled clients and prospects.”

Stephan Hänseler, Head of SIX SIS, commented: “This provides the opportunity for US based financial institutions to get access to all European and Asian Markets across a broad range of asset classes with one contractual relationship. SIX’ best-in-class market access models, asset servicing expertise, and integration capabilities, combined with its growing international presence, are the basis for flexible end-to-end securities services tailored to clients’ needs and ensuring highest client experience.

The new office of SIX SIS USA will be run by René Haag, an international wealth management veteran with experience in both Europe and the United States. Prior to the appointment, he was Senior Relationship Manager at SIX.

In regard to Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), SIX has recently announced the progressive migration of BME’s current trading platform to a version of its existing platform, thus establishing the future trading platform technology set-up for both companies.

In a first step, trading and trading-related services for Equities, Equity-like and Fixed Income instruments will be harmonized on the SIX trading platform by extending and optimizing the current SIX capabilities to also address the Spanish market’s needs.

The migration is envisaged to happen between Q4 2022 and Q2 2023 and will create the foundation for the Spanish along with the Swiss market to be established on one of the leading platforms in Europe.

Along the same lines, market data dissemination will be harmonized for both markets. The scope of the trading platform harmonization process does not include derivative instruments.