SIX has launched a new clearing platform for the Nordic Markets to enable the clearing of 10 million trade legs per day, with SIX expecting an increase in the number of cleared trades going forward.

Based on Nasdaq technology, the new clearing IT infrastructure has been integrated into the SIX post-trade architecture.

SIX intends to extend the markets and trading venue coverage for Swiss clearing onto this new platform as the next step of its growth.

The upgrade will provide continued enhancement of the IT infrastructure and reliability as well as increased functionality and processing capabilities, says SIX.

Javier Hernani, head of securities services at SIX, comments: “This upgrade reinforces the position of SIX as a source of high-quality market infrastructure. The new platform for the Nordic markets, with its increased efficiency and scalability, will enable market participants to enhance the client experience in post-trade processes.”

Roland Chai, executive vice president and head of market infrastructure technology, at Nasdaq Market Technology, says: “This demonstrates Nasdaq’s ability to deliver robust next generation architecture at the core of European interoperable cash equities markets. We look forward to continuing our technology partnership and supporting SIX in their long-term growth ambitions.”

The news comes in the same week that SIX completed the acquisition of Clearstream’s 50 per cent stake in REGIS-TR, which has now become a 100 per cent owned SIX company.

REGIS-TR, consisting of REGIS-TR S.A. and REGIS-TR UK, has a portfolio of more than 2,000 European clients across over 40 countries.

REGIS-TR is a European trade repository for reporting trades and transactions across multiple product classes and jurisdictions, open to financial and non-financial institutions.

The main processor for U.S. securities transactions on Tuesday said it has launched an experiment to measure the potential benefits of a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) and that the results will help guide the design of future clearing and settlement offerings.

The move by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation(DTCC), which ensures that U.S. stock and bond trades are paid and accounted for, comes as around 90 countries explore or prepare to launch CBDCs.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March requiring the government to assess the risks and benefits of creating a CBDC amid concerns that the United States will cede the dominance of the global financial system if it does not digitize the dollar, currently the global reserve currency.

The DTCC's experiment, known as Project Lithium, is being done in collaboration with the non-profit Digital Dollar Project and aims in part to demonstrate how CBDCs could be settled directly in real time between market participants.

Project Lithium will also identify how CBDCs can leverage the DTCC's existing clearing and settlement capabilities to reduce counterparty risk, boost capital efficiency, add regulatory transparency and guarantee that cash and securities are delivered.

"You have to start to think about the community build effort, what it takes to integrate that particular payment rail into your organizations, your enterprises, and how it interoperates with your existing money systems," Jennifer Peve, head of strategy and business development at the DTCC, said in an interview. A digital dollar could transform the financial system, speeding up payments globally and giving consumers greater access to the financial system, the U.S. Federal Reserve said in a research paper in January. But it said a poorly designed digital dollar could weaken banks, destabilize the financial system and create privacy issues.

A growing number of companies here are introducing electronic voting systems, as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in new voting systems for shareholders' meetings.

According to data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), a total of 974 firms here used the KSD's electronic voting system ― called K-VOTE ― in their shareholders' meetings in the first three months of this year, up by 15.5 percent from the same period last year.

"This was driven by the spread of non-face-to-face voting after the start of the pandemic in 2020," an official from the state-run securities depository said.

Demand for electronic voting has also been on the rise for the past few years due to the rise of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria. The growing importance of implementing ESG values also encouraged more companies to follow the trend.

The number of voting shares of the 974 companies amounted to 54.85 billion, with 5.35 billion of these shares having exercised their voting rights electronically, according to data from the KSD.

With the National Pension Service (NPS) adopting the K-VOTE system, the figure has continued to rise this year, according to the KSD.

More retail investors also exercised their voting rights through the electronic system. According to data from the KSD, more than 300,000 retail investors utilized the K-VOTE system this year, up by around 50 percent from a year earlier.

Last November, the KSD upgraded its K-VOTE system to help more investors exercise their voting rights more easily via its online platform.

The KSD said that it plans to make the system more accessible to more institutional and retail investors by upgrading its platform down the road.

"We will also continue offering benefits to companies that face difficulties holding shareholders' meetings due to the pandemic, without charging them any commission, until the end of this year," the official said.

The Japan Exchange Group (JPX), which operates the Tokyo Stock Exchange, will issue a corporate green bond as a security token using the BOOSTRY blockchain platform. Nomura is the structuring agent and underwriter, and Hitachi will monitor the carbon emissions prevented by renewable energy generation activities.

Nomura and Nomura Research Institute started working on a blockchain bond solution in 2019, incorporating BOOSTRY later that year. SBI bought a 10% stake in 2020. The company open-sourced its ‘ibet’ software solution for bonds.

JPX plans to have a public security token offering (STO), which JPX claims is the first digital green bond for wholesale trading in Japan.

The bonds will be issued on the ‘Ibet for Fin’ network, a consortium network founded by BOOSTRY, Nomura Securities, SMBC Nikko Securities and SBI Securities. The network acts as the bond registry, which means the Japan Securities Depository Center will not be used as the central security depository (CSD).

Data regarding the CO2 emission reductions will also be logged on the blockchain. This lays the groundwork for a future in which a bond interest rate might vary depending on whether the bond reaches a sustainability target.

Hitachi will automatically measure the volume of electricity generated at the renewable plants which receive the funds and convert this to CO2 emission reduction measurements. These readings are accessible to investors at any time, in contrast to the conventional annual reports.

The funds raised will be allocated to biomass and solar power generation.

JPX has been ramping up its digital activities of late. Last year it announced the planned April 2022 launch of an innovation subsidiary, JPX Market Innovation & Research, which is participating in this green bond initiative. Earlier this month, as part of its medium term strategy, it said it planned to launch a digital securities market for security tokens by April 2025. In February, it mentioned it was exploring green bonds and, the same month, invested in Digital Asset Markets, which has been involved in the issuance of gold-backed tokens with Mitsui.

The news also signals yet another stock exchange win for Digital Asset, as Boostry’s smart contracts use the DAML language. Other stock exchanges using DAML include ASX, HKEX, Deutsche Boerse, and Boerse Malaysia.