A seat at Swiss stock exchange operator has become a game of brinkmanship between two member banks. The recent sale of Bank of Bellevue was snapped up by Credit Suisse, finews.com has learned.

Last month, Bellevue surprised the Swiss banking industry by offloading a 1.175 percent stake in SIX, Switzerland's stock exchange operator – the Swiss bank didn't disclose the terms of the deal or specific buyer, saying only the stake was no longer of strategic focus, and that it had made use of a strategic opportunity.

The buyer of the stake, which Bellevue had valued at 53.4 million Swiss francs ($54.5 million) is none other than Credit Suisse, sources familiar with the matter told finews.com. It isn't the first time the Swiss giant has quietly snapped up a stake in SIX which had come on the market: Credit Suisse bought Notenstein La Roche's membership stake as well, these people said, after both that bank's previous owner Raiffeisen and acquirer Vontobel passed.

No Clarity on Ownership

The shift in ownership at member-owned and governed SIX lessens the lead that UBS has over Credit Suisse at the utility. In December, the two together owned north of 30 percent of SIX (UBS at 17 percent and Credit Suisse at 13 percent). A spokesman for Credit Suisse didn't comment.

The memberships and stakes are not freely tradable: member banks need board permission to buy or sell stakes, according to SIX's statute. The job of the board, on which UBS and Credit Suisse are represented through their respective operating chiefs, is to ensure that shares are divvied up somewhat proportionally – though there is no clarity to the ownership process.

Bellevue-KBL Deal

In principle, the size of banks' stakes in SIX should reflect the amount of trading business they generate at the exchange. More importantly, big banks like UBS and Credit Suisse are keenly interested in a new digital exchange SIX is building that is poised to go live (click here to read more).

Money is another reason for Credit Suisse to lift its stake: the stock exchange is a reliable dividend machine. The sale was presumably important for Bellevue, which is in the process of selling its Swiss bank to KBL, as finews.com reported.

 Katharina Bart contributed reporting