The SIX Swiss Exchange Listing Rules

The SIX Swiss Exchange ("SIX") is an attractive market for domestic and foreign issuers due to Switzerland's leading position in asset management and private banking. Swiss and foreign issuers benefit from liquid markets and a high level of visibility among investors, financial analysts and media in general. The large pool of knowledgeable investors combined with the investment banks' glob-al reach are other key success factors that make Switzerland attractive for issuers. SIX has established listing rules (the "SIX Listing Rules") that govern the listing of instruments (such as shares, bonds, derivatives, ETFs, etc.) and define ongoing obligations for issuers, such as the obligation to publish price sensitive infor-mation (ad hoc publicity), the reporting of management transactions and require-ments as to financial reporting and corporate governance. The vast majority of regulations is directly enacted and applied by SIX itself and not by a government agency, which leads to regulations and practice that takes into account the needs of all market participants. The growing internationalization of the capital markets as well as the flexibility of investors to access stock exchanges requires also that SIX constantly adapt the SIX Listing Rules to new regulatory and market standards. While the last overall revision of the SIX Listing Rules has been completed in July 2009, the requirements for the listing and for maintaining the listing have since been further developed through directives, circulars and decisions. Non-compliance with the SIX Listing Rules can lead to severe sanctions, as SIX has put more emphasis on the enforcement of its rules and regulations. This commentary on the SIX Listing Rules is written by practicing experts for practitioners. It covers the SIX Listing Rules article by article, taking into account the last partial revision which entered into force on 1st March 2014 and the rele-vant SIX directives, circulars and decisions. The commentary provides compre-hensive guidance for Swiss and foreign issuers that want to list or are already listed on SIX as well as their respective advisors (such as domestic and foreign investment banks, financial advisors, law firms, public relations or investor rela-tions firms).