The Bermuda Stock Exchange celebrated a major milestone, had record Insurance Linked Securities business, continued its growth in international debt listings and joined the Pyth Network in a year its operations were moved to new headquarters in the Exchange House.

ILS listings reached a record 281 issues in 2021, an 11.1 per cent increase from 253 listings in 2020. Combined nominal value totalled $19.8 billion, a 25.4 per cent increase from the $15.8 billion total in 2020 with the number of ILS securities totalling 757 listings at the end of 2021, representing $50.8 billion in nominal value.

“It was a pivotal year for BSX and our team, with our core listing business ending the year at record levels despite the impact of Covid-19 on our ability to engage in traditional physical business development activity,” said Greg Wojciechowski, president and chief executive officer of BSX.

As the integration with new parent Miami International Holdings Inc continued, the BSX implemented significant upgrades to the technology infrastructure.

International debt issues listed on the exchange saw continued growth totalling 222 in 2021, a 7.3 per cent increase from 2020, with nominal value increasing 35.7 per cent to $29.4 billion.

“Steady growth in our international debt listings during the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19 is an important validation of BSX’s growing importance as a recognised venue for international debt listings in the western hemisphere,” BSX chief compliance officer James McKirdy said.

“Issuers continued to refinance outstanding debt with larger-sized issues, supporting growth in nominal value of debt issuances.”

BSX listed 24 new collective investment vehicles, ten derivative warrants and one new equity in 2021. At year-end 2021, there was a record 1,294 securities listed on BSX, a 14.8 per cent increase from 1,127 at the end of 2020.

The RG/BSX Index increased 27.7 per cent in 2021, closing at 2,595.09. Trading volume on the domestic market totalled three million shares in 2021, while share value traded totalled $23.4 million.

Market capitalisation of the companies on the BSX totalled $334 billion at the end of 2021.

“Bermuda Securities Depository, the domestic Central Counter Party and Central Securities Depository, continued to ensure orderly settlement of trades and processing of all domestic corporate actions despite the challenges encountered by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said operations manager Neville Caines.

“At year-end 2020, BSD held 52 per cent of all domestic listed securities in custody, an increase of six per cent from 2020.”

In June the BSX joined the Pyth Network, a decentralised financial market data distribution platform deployed on an Oracle network designed to provide high-fidelity financial market data to the blockchain industry using a blockchain protocol on the Solana network.

BSX subscribed to US equity market data from MIAX Pearl Equities™ and began publishing data to the network in September 2021.

“The BSX celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021 and we believe we have built a foundation for our next 50 years of innovation and growth,” added Mr Wojciechowski.

“What has become clear over the past year is that the change in how we work, where we work and disrupters such as digital assets and DeFi have been accelerated.

“Bermuda is positioning itself to become a global leader in climate risk finance solutions given its long history of providing catastrophic peril coverage through innovative vehicles such as ILS.

“The BSX will continue to play a critical role in this area as the leading Exchange for international listing services for ILS securities.”