SIX Swiss Exchange opens XBTR bilateral trading platform

 

SIX Swiss Exchange has finally opened its bilateral trading platform, XBTR (pronounced “exbitra”), to market on April 15. Preparations were being made since last year and Leonteq Securities Ltd. was the first to sign up back in April 2015. Credit Suisse is also connected to the OTC trading platform, along with three other market participants. Negotiations with additional players are underway.

The XBTR platform allows bilateral trading, with securitized derivatives, which is not regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), based on the Swiss Exchange’s existing infrastructure but still an independent platform separate from SIX Structured Products. SIX Swiss Exchange claims that OTC products can now be traded and processed with the same level of efficiency as listed products.

Christoph Landis, Division CEO at SIX Swiss Exchange, said: “The XBTR trading platform provides off-exchange interbank trading of structured products with access to the Swiss Value Chain, thus enabling complete automation – from the placement of a product, its trading, through to final settlement. This means significant improvements in efficiency for our participants. We congratulate Leonteq and Credit Suisse on having taken this step.”

OTC trading under the XBTR platform will be made without independent market surveillance nor is regulated by FINMA, and grants instant trading availability and longer trading times (from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.). These points adding to no formalities via CONNEXOR, and bilateral interbank trading over a request-for-quote (RfQ)-based trading system make the most important differences between the XBTR service and on-order-book trading include.

SIX Swiss Exchange charges fees for putting structured products on XBTR and for trades.