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World Bank Issues Digital Bonds in Switzerland on Blockchain – Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News
Of Fintechnews Switzerland
May 21, 2024
THE World Bank has priced the first Swiss franc digital bond from an international issuer, which will be settled using the Swiss franc wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) provided by Swiss National Bank (SNB).
This seven-year CHF 200 million digital bond, the World Bank’s largest Swiss franc bond issue since 2009, uses distributed ledger technology (DLT) and promotes the digitalisation of capital markets while supporting asset financing of the World Bank’s sustainable development program.
The World Bank collaborated with the SNB and YOU ARE digital exchange (SDX) to step up efforts in the use of DLT in capital markets. This partnership introduces the SNB’s use of wCBDC for initial settlement.
The bond is listed on both the SIX Digital Exchange and the traditional SIX Swiss Exchange. The securities are governed by Swiss law. The bond was placed primarily in Switzerland, with banks, bank treasuries and corporates accounting for the majority share of allocations (60%), followed by asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds at 39%. The rest was placed with central banks and official institutions.
Jorge Familiare
“We are grateful for the opportunity to issue the first CHF digital bond as an international issuer. This achievement marks another significant step in the World Bank’s commitment to increase the efficiency of capital markets through digitalisation in collaboration with central banks and central securities depositories. It builds on our previous results with bond-i and the issuance of digital native banknotes last October,”
said Jorge Familiar, vice president and treasurer of the World Bank.
David Newns
“Being able to settle wholesale transactions in central bank tokenized money is a fundamental and fundamental requirement for the adoption of a blockchain-based capital markets infrastructure. Today the World Bank is taking the sector a step forward. SDX is very pleased to have the World Bank’s first Swiss franc-denominated digital issue settled in wCBDC on our platform as part of the SNB’s innovative initiative Project Helvetia. This is further testament to the World Bank’s pioneering innovation in the digital asset space,”
said David Newns, head of SIX Digital Exchange.
Commerzbank served as the sole lead manager and is also the paying and issuing agent for this transaction.
Featured image credit: Edited by freepik
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