Iberclear, a Spanish central securities depository (CSD) owned by Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), has acquired the fifty percent stake of Clearstream, a post-trade services provider, in their REGIS-TR business.
REGIS-TR, an European trade repository comprising REGIS-TR S.A. and REGIS-TR UK Ltd, has a portfolio of over 2,000 European clients across over 40 countries.
Clearstream, which is owned by Deutsche Börse Group, had co-founded REGIS-TR in December 2010 in partnership with Iberclear, a sub-subsidiary of the Swiss Infrastructure and Exchange Group (SIX).
With the acquisition, SIX, the parent company of BME and a Swiss stock exchange, has become the 100% owner of the CSD, SIX said in a press statement.
SIX had initially announced its plans to buy out REGIS-TR in September 2021. Since its founding over a decade ago, REGIS-TR “has successfully grown into a leading European trade repository with more than 700 million trade messages processed monthly,” the Swiss bourse added.
Expanding Across Europe
SIX is a provider of financial market infrastructure services that connects participants in Switzerland, Spain and across the globe. The company provides services relating to securities transactions, the processing of financial information and payment transactions. In addition, the company is building a digital infrastructure.
The SIX Group has said that REGIS-TR is an important complementary business to its existing services with significant potential for further growth.
The Group added that the full consolidation of the trade repository represents an opportunity for SIX to further integrate and deliver a suite of leading streamlined services to customers across Europe.
Javier Hernani, the Chief Executive Officer of BME and Head of Securities Services at SIX, in his reaction expressed excitement at the company’s plan to fully integrate the REGIS-TR business, which he said “has already been an integral part of BME’s business portfolio.”
“We look forward to taking the business into its next phase of development within SIX. We are delighted to welcome the entire REGIS-TR team with their talent and expertise to SIX," the member of SIX’s Executive Board added.
On his part, Thomas Steimann, the CEO of REGIS-TR, said the trade repository will continue to leverage its strong operational connections with SIX.
“We will take advantage of a very experienced and seasoned management team with a deep knowledge of the trade repository environment and continue with our dedication to service excellence for our customers,” Steimann added.
Consolidating for Growth
SIX in its trading volumes for February 2022 recorded a dip of almost 4% month-on-month in turnover. The total number of trades stood at 5,676,276, which is 2.6% lower compared to the previous month.
Moreover, SIX in its consolidated financials for 2021 reported an annual net profit of CHF 73.5 million (around $79.2 million), which is a decline of 83.2 percent from the prior year.
Nonetheless, the company has continued to build on its digital brand. The Swiss stock exchange recently announced a cash-settled and centrally-cleared crypto-asset futures partnership with LMAX Group, an operator of institutional forex and cryptocurrency trading platforms.
In February, SIX also listed Polkadot exchange-traded products belonging to CoinShares, Europe’s leading digital asset management firm, on its exchange. This came a few days after SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIX, and FQX, a Zurich-headquartered fintech and blockchain startup, announced that both companies had agreed to collaborate on blockchain-based short-term debt instruments.
