Following approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, SIX Exchange Regulation’s (SER) revised regulatory framework for global depositary receipts (Hinterlegungsscheine; GDRs) entered into force on 25 July 2022. These long-awaited revised regulations paved the way for the listing and trading of GDRs on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX) via the China-Switzerland Stock Connect Program. On 28 July 2022, the first four Chinese companies have listed GDRs in accordance with the Standard for Depositary Receipts on SIX and commenced trading in the newly introduced separate trading segment for GDRs. No GDRs had ever been listed on SIX before. This article provides an overview of the main aspects of SIX’s Standard for Depositary Receipts, the China-Switzerland Stock Connect Program and the revised GDR specific regulations of SER.

By Christian Schneiter (Reference: CapLaw-2022-35)