Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH) has announced that it has launched a fully-integrated trading, clearing, settlement and depository technology platform for the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MIH, in a move that marks a significant step in modernising the BSX’s market infrastructure.
According to the announcement, the new BSX system incorporates MIAX’s proprietary trading, middle, and back-office technology, alongside clearing and central securities depository (CSD) solutions, developed in collaboration with Swedish-based firm Vermiculus, a global provider of financial market infrastructure technology.One of the key features of the new platform is that it contains a trading and market data dissemination system in Bermuda, as well as off-island disaster recovery capabilities, a web-based order management system (OMS), and middle-office technology to support market operations, surveillance, and reporting.
In addition, the system integrates a clearing, settlement, and depository (CSD) framework, further strengthening BSX’s ability to serve global investors.
Readers may recall that the BSX maintained its position as the leading exchange in the world for the listing of insurance-linked securities (ILS) instruments in 2024, with roughly 92% of outstanding catastrophe bond issuance finding a home there as of the end of the year, as well as numerous other ILS securities.
Importantly, with the BSX being the home to the majority of catastrophe bond listings and other forms of listed ILS, this new trading, clearing, settlement and depository technology platform could herald a move into supporting the liquidity needs of market participants and potentially even the secondary trading of notes in future.
Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIH, commented: “The launch of the new BSX technology platform represents an important milestone in our strategy to build and operate all our exchanges utilizing proprietary MIAX technology. The new platform provides us with the flexibility to respond to evolving market demand and expand the range of products we are able to offer customers.”
Greg Wojciechowski, President and Chief Executive Officer of BSX, said: “MIAX’s proven technology, coupled with Vermiculus’ leading international market infrastructure capabilities, expands our ability to support Bermuda’s market with a fully-integrated exchange platform managing the trade cycle from execution to clearing and settlement.
“We worked closely with our market participants to design a next generation platform to meet the needs of our domestic capital market while positioning us to take advantage of future international capital market opportunities.”
Randy Foster, Executive Vice President, Business Systems Development of MIAX, added: “The scalability of MIAX proprietary technology allows us to efficiently expand across asset classes while retaining the speed, performance and reliability our exchanges are known for. We’ve replicated that expansion process at BSX, providing a best-in-class user experience that our customers have come to expect from MIAX.”
As the BSX market infrastructure modernises, it stands to reason the Exchange may see an opportunity to extend this new functionality to the catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, given its dominant position in providing a home for listing of these securities.
As a reminder, you find details of most catastrophe bonds listed on the BSX in the Artemis Deal Directory.
Find information on many of the reinsurance sidecars that have their notes listed on the BSX in our collateralized reinsurance sidecar directory.
