SIX, the operator of Switzerland's financial market infrastructure, led by new CEO Bjørn Sibbern since the start of the year, recently released key figures for December and the full year 2024 for its two exchanges: the SIX Swiss Exchange and the Spanish BME Exchange.

The data on trading activity is an important indicator of investor sentiment and therefore of interest to the Swiss financial sector as a whole.

Swiss Shares Down Slightly

Total turnover on the Swiss stock exchange increased by 13.4 per cent year-on-year to CHF 1,187 billion. However, the most significant category, equities, saw a slight decline of 1.3 percent, despite what was a generally favorable (though below-average by international standards) stock market year in Switzerland.

Bonds, in contrast, which are often considered less exciting, surged by an impressive 76 percent. Exchange trade funds (ETFs) and securitised derivatives (structured products and warrants) also recorded an increase (31 and 12.8 per cent respectively).

Gap Between Volume And Transactions In Bonds

However, the number of transactions paints a different picture. Here, equities increased by 2.5 per cent to around 45 million, while only 408,000 transactions (-7.8 per cent) were achieved in bonds. The unusual gap between the development of transactions and turnover in bonds indicates that something has changed in the method of recording the traded volume.

Trading activity increased for ETFs (+44.1 percent) and derivatives (+14.8 percent). Overall, SIX recorded 48 million transactions, marking a 4 percent increase.

A Multiple Of Equity In Debt Capital

In terms of initial public offering (IPO), 2024 was a lean year. The only real public offering was Galderma, which was the largest IPO since 2017 with a placement volume of CHF 2.3 billion. Listed companies raised a total of CHF 2.3 billion in equity capital in 2024.

The figures for bonds are much more impressive. The CHF 100 billion mark was broken for the third time in a row. In 2024, debtors raised CHF 104 billion in debt capital (previous year: CHF 116 billion) , down from CHF 116 billion the previous year, through 453 new issues (previous year: 453) (unchanged from the previous year).

Slump In The Bond Sector In Spain

The trading volume of shares on the BME Exchange rose by 6 per cent to 318 billion euros. In contrast, bond turnover slumped by 43.5 per cent to 104 billion euros. Overall, turnover in Spain fell by 12.9 per cent to 423 billion euros.

In terms of transactions, the decline in bonds was milder (-30 per cent), resulting in an increase of 4.8 per cent with a total of 30 million transactions. The fact that Spain's economy is performing better than most other European countries is apparently not reflected in stock market activity.