At the beginning of 2023, the city of Lugano issued their first digital native bond on SIX Digital Exchange (ISIN: CH1232107172) with Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) as sole lead manager.

Following this issuance and based on the double listing on SDX Trading AG and SIX Swiss Exchange, the bond has become the first digital native asset accepted as eligible collateral for SNB repos.

This represents a major milestone in the adoption of digital bonds and another world first.

As already iterated by Moodys, there is no difference in the risk factor analysis of a digital issuance on SDX in comparison with a traditional bond. All eligible securities are available online on the “SNB General Collateral Basket” website at collateral.snb.ch.

“We are very pleased that the SNB has included the Lugano digital bond in the SNB General Collateral Basket. I see this as an important signal to market participants that digital bonds have not only arrived in the domestic CHF bond market but have established themselves as an integral part of the capital market value chain in Switzerland,” notes Alexandre Kech, Head Digital Securities at SDX.

About SDX
SDX is licensed by Switzerland’s financial market regulator, FINMA, to operate an Exchange and a Central Securities Depository (CSD). SDX offers issuance, listing, trading, settlement, servicing, and custody of digital securities. SDX is committed to working with partners, members, and clients to promote and build out a new market structure for digital assets globally.

About SIX
SIX operates and develops infrastructure services for the Swiss and Spanish Stock Exchanges, for Post-Trade Services, Banking Services and Financial Information with the aim of raising efficiency, quality and innovative capacity across the entire value chain of the Swiss and Spanish financial centers. The company is owned by its users (120 banks). With a workforce of 3,685 employees and a presence in 20 countries, it generated operating income of CHF 1.5 billion and Group net profit of CHF 73.5 million in 2021. www.six-group.com