Africa Finance Corporation has issued a CHF 350 million ($431m) digital bond via SIX using the SDX platform. This marks the first digital bond issuance by an African institution via a CSD and exchange. The five year bond carries a coupon of 1.4925% and is one of the larger digital bonds on the platform, though UBS issued a CHF 375m bond in 2022. The transaction was arranged by Commerzbank AG (Technical Lead) and Deutsche Bank.
“The digital format of this bond is not an end in itself but a signal of our commitment to being at the frontier of innovation in the capital markets as we continue to diversify and strengthen AFC’s funding base to support Africa’s development,” said Banji Fehintola, Executive Board Member and Head of Financial Services at AFC.
This issuance is the latest of numerous supranational digital bonds (see below) and ends a mini drought for digital bonds at SIX given the last issuance was a KfW bond in June 2025. The SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) platform is now part of the main SIX CSD entity, SIX SIS, following FINMA’s approval of a merger in May. Plans for the consolidation were announced in early 2025 after new CEO Bjørn Sibbern unveiled his group strategy. SDX was globally the first to launch a regulated digital exchange and to host live wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) transactions, as part of an ongoing pilot. However, wCBDC was not mentioned as part of this AFC issuance.
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