Jos Dijsselhof: «The New SIX Will Try Out More»

Switzerland's stock exchange group is going to spend part of a million-franc windfall looking into what cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology mean for its trading activities, CEO Jos Dijsselhof says in a finews.ch-TV interview.

SIX Group plans to pour at least some of the 338 million Swiss franc ($342 million) proceeds from selling a majority stake in its payments arm to France's Worldline into experimenting with new technology like cryptocurrencies and blockchain, CEO Jos Dijsselhof said in an interview with finews.ch-TV.

«We’ll do ten to 20 initiatives. Some might be successful, some might not. That’s the new SIX: we’ll try out a bit more,» Dijsselhof said:

Dijsselhof, who most recently was operating chief at pan-european exchange Euronext, began as CEO of SIX five months ago. Roughly 1,300 jobs will move to Worldline after the disposal. The Zurich-exchange operator will maintain a 27 percent share in the unit after the deal concludes, probably in the fourth quarter of 2018.

SIX also operates a financial data arm which is considerably smaller than industry rivals like Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters as well as trading, clearing, and settlement services.

Click here for Dijsselhof's views on the token economy, initial coin offerings, an e-Swiss franc, job and spending cuts following the payments deal, and whether Switzerland's exchange can go it alone next to pan-european and transatlantic trading giants.