UBS has launched the world’s first digital bond — a CHF 375 million three-year bond with 2.33% coupon — that is publicly traded and settled on both blockchain-based and traditional exchanges.

The digital bond will be dual listed at SDX Trading and SIX Swiss Exchange and will be eligible for the Swiss Bond Index (SBI) alongside all other UBS senior unsecured notes which are listed on SIX.

The bond settles via SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) distributed ledger-based central securities depository (CSD) network through atomic settlement technology.

Settlement via SDX CSD is instant and automatic and does not require a central clearing counterparty. Investors will be able to automatically settle and clear the digital bond on SDX CSD directly or on SIX SIS.

Beatriz Martin

“We are proud to leverage distributed ledger technology to launch the inaugural UBS digital bond. UBS is committed to using technology not just as an enabler, but to making it a true differentiator for UBS,”

said Beatriz Martin, UBS Group Treasurer.

David Newns

“The dual-listed, natively digital bond, developed in close cooperation with SIX Swiss Exchange and SIX SIS simplifies the digital bond issuance process on SDX whilst simultaneously maximising market reach through the connectivity between SDX’s blockchain based platform and SIX’s traditional infrastructure,”

siad David Newns, Head of SIX Digital Exchange.