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On April 15 trading commenced on XBTR, the bilateral trading platform for structured products from SIX Swiss Exchange. The two participants of the platform, Leonteq and Credit Suisse became the first ones to also profit in OTC trading of structured products from the benefits of the infrastructure of SIX.
The bilateral trading platform XBTR enables participants of SIX Swiss Exchange to efficiently trade and settle OTC products on a central platform with interfaces that already exist. XBTR therefore closes a gap in the trading-offer of structured products. Unlisted OTC products can now be traded and processed with the same level of efficiency as listed products. The platform is aimed at professional market participants in the interbank business and is based on the Swiss Exchange’s existing infrastructure. It is, however, separate from on-order-book trading from a regulatory and functional perspective. Three other participants are connected to XBTR in addition to Leonteq and Credit Suisse, and discussions about a connection are underway with additional participants.
Christoph Landis, Division CEO SIX Swiss Exchange, states that “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.”
The most important differences between bilateral interbank trading on XBTR and on-order-book trading include:
- Bilateral trading takes place over a request-for-quote(RfQ)-based trading system
- Not regulated by FINMA, trading without market surveillance
- Longer trading times from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
- Instant trading availability – products can be traded based on their ISIN prior to the availability of the remaining master data
- No formal approval process, technical validation and activation via CONNEXOR®
