SWX Announces Record 2007 Turnover

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

04 January 2008

The SWX Swiss Exchange, virt-x and Scoach Switzerland Ltd recorded all-time highs in turnover and total number of transactions in 2007, the SWX has announced.

According to provisional 2007 performance figures from the exchange, annual turnover rose by 27.7% versus the previous year to reach an impressive CHF2,527 billion. Particularly noteworthy was the explosion in trading activity in structured products and warrants, which grew by 56.7%.

Turnover in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) also registered a marked increase of 51.7% to CHF28,796 million. For ETFs, the number of listed products rose from 61 (end of 2006) to 125 (end of 2007).

The number of listed structured products and warrants surged from 10,369 (end of 2006) to about 19,000 (end of 2007). The number of transactions in equities (including funds and Exchange Traded Structured Funds) recorded a 46.3% gain compared to 2006.

On the last trading day of 2007, the blue chip SMI index stood at 8,518.2 points down 3.05% versus the end of 2006, the newly introduced SLI Swiss Leader Index PR stood at 1,299.5 points, down 1.06%, and the broadly based SPI stood at 6,942.24 points, up 0.19%.

The SWX has also announced that virt-x, the London-based securities exchange and subsidiary of SWX Group, is to change its name following the merger of SWX Group, SIS Group and Telekurs Group in 2008.

Effective 3 March 2008, virt-x Exchange Limited will change its legal name to SWX Europe Limited.

The exchange believes that the name change reflects the commitment of the new enterprise to promoting SWX Swiss Exchange and SWX Europe as pre-eminent liquidity venues for Swiss securities trading.

Lee Hodgkinson, CEO of virt-x, commented:

“We are committed to providing the most liquid venue for Swiss blue-chip trading from our base in London. The new SWX Europe brand clarifies our identity and underpins our competitive positioning, as we continue to deliver our strategy to revitalise trading services in a MiFID environment.”

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