The World Bank has announced the pricing of a CHF 200 million digital bond, set to be issued on 11 June on the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX). This bond will utilise the Swiss Franc wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) for settlement.
It marks the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a World Bank arm, as the first international issuer to use the wCBDC according to a World bank in a press release.
The issuance is part of the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) Project Helvetia, which is currently piloting the wCBDC on the SDX Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform. Although several digital bonds have already settled using the wCBDC, this marks the first instance of an international entity doing so.
Seven-year maturity
The bond, rated Aaa/AAA, has a seven-year maturity and primarily targets the Swiss market. Allocation includes 60 per cent to banks and corporates, 39 per cent to institutional investors, and the remainder to central banks and official institutions.
Commerzbank is serving as the sole lead manager and issuer agent, handling coupons and redemption payments in tokenised CHF.
CSD integration
Integration of central securities depositories (CSDs) has been critical in this process. In 2022, UBS linked SDX’s CSD to the main SIX SIS CSD, enabling dual listings on SDX and SIX. SDX’s integration with Clearstream and Euroclear now allows the World Bank’s bond to settle across four different CSDs.
