Switzerland’s SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), the world’s first fully regulated digital asset exchange and Central Securities Depository (CSD), working in partnership with F10, a global FinTech and InsurTech Innovation Ecosystem and Aequitec, a digital share register and cap table company, announces the first-ever tokenization of equity shares in a fully regulated CSD based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).
F10 will issue its shares with the SDX CSD where shares are tokenized, while the share registry services will be provided by Aequitec. Tokenized private shares are transferrable in the form of dematerialized intermediated securities on the SDX DLT platform according to Swiss law.
With this new partnership approach, financial institutions can move beyond today’s business model of tailor-made, one-by-one private placement, to a sustainable, digitalized, process-driven business. Expected benefits are increased efficiency and greater liquidity for private markets. This represents a major step towards enhancing the share registry process for private companies by using blockchain technology. By orchestrating processes across all involved parties, the collaboration ensures a seamless user experience for issuers, investors, and SDX member banks.
Today’s announcement represents a first milestone in the partnership with Aequitec showing the impact of SDX’s strategy to actively engage with venture capital partners and the SME investor community.
According to Massimo Butti, Head of Equity at SDX, “An ecosystem that supports private companies in their funding journey and reduces the complexities and inefficiencies of issuing private equity can only be achieved through collaboration: with existing and new players; by leveraging existing processes; and by creating new technical standards. The issuance of F10 shares on SDX is the result of the cooperation with different market actors. It provides a scalable blueprint for other issuers and participants to issue digitized shares and affirms that our private issuance market is open for business”.
Christian Wilk, CEO of Aequitec, notes: “With bankable shares our customers’ shareholders can safely store their private equity shares in bank custody. Moreover, with the help of Aequitec’s interactive workflows for capital increases and annual shareholder meetings, F10 as equity issuer can further streamline the processes and strengthen corporate governance practices, resulting in higher ESG ratings and better access to equity funding”.
Jonathan Seiler, CFO and Senior Investment Manager at F10: “Beyond the clear advantages of managing our share registry and all related processes fully digitally at F10, we believe strongly in the power of collaboration to advance the financial industry. That’s why we are incredibly excited to be the first issuer of shares for this new innovative offer by our partner SDX and F10 alumni Aequitec”.
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 went live in Q4 2021, and continues to work with partners, its current members (UBS, Credit Suisse, Zürcher Kantonalbank, CM Equity) and future clients to promote and build out a new market structure for digital assets globally.
About F10
F10 is a global innovation ecosystem with offices in Zurich, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona. F10’s mission is to unite tech startups with big business to shape the future of banking and insurances. F10 was founded and sponsored by SIX, a global financial infrastructure provider and operator of the Swiss and Spanish stock exchanges. Today it is joined by a global cohort of influential banks, consultancies, insurers and tech firms.
About Aequitec
Founded in 2020 by Johannes Schneebacher, Dr. Christian Wilk, and Deon Digital AG, Aequitec helps stock and private companies to digitize their corporate governance processes. The Zurich-based startup supports its customers with a specially developed software platform. This offers the possibility to automate and digitally map corporate actions. This enables stock corporations, for instance, to hold their general meetings digitally or hybrid and to digitize their share register with a global connection to the banking financial system. The main shareholders are currently the founders and the start-up incubator F10.
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
