SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd. expects its second half results to get a boost from the ban on Swiss entities trading on eurozone platforms, which has forced market participants to turn to the domestic exchange, Reuters reported.
The ban came into effect in July as a result of the standoff between Switzerland and the European Union over a stalled partnership treaty. The EU opted not to extend a temporary equivalence regime for Switzerland, which refused to endorse a long-negotiated partnership treaty with the bloc. The regime allowed EU investors to access Swiss stock exchanges.
"There are certain indications that the non-equivalence potentially has a positive effect on operating income as well as profit in the second half of the year due to the associated contingent measures by the Federal Council," SIX Group AG, the bourse operator, said.
The bourse said EU trading volumes of Swiss equities had transferred onto SIX after EU-equivalence was no longer granted.
"Effective open markets and legal certainty continue to be the highest priority and of the utmost importance to SIX in order to be able to serve best the interests of banks, issuers and investors," the group said.
The bourse operator reported first half group net profit of CHF32.4 million, down 67.8%. EBITDA fell 30.1% to CHF99.9 million.
The fair value of SIX's 27% stake in Worldline has increased since the signing of the deal to CHF3.5 billion from CHF2.5 billion.
