company.”
Reporting on corporate responsibility
When reporting on corporate responsibility, SIX applies the standards set down in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is recognized as the world leader in this area. Since 2013, SIX has been an organizational stake-holder of this not-for-profit organization.
GRI guidelines do not simply require the disclosure of information about the company itself. Companies are also asked to provide details of how they deal with their social and environmental responsibilities. The SIX
corporate responsibility report focuses on the compa-ny’s commitment to the Swiss financial center, its treat-ment of employees, its dialog with clients and its com-pliance with laws and the rules
on information security. SIX pro-vides information on its environ-mental impact on the website.
More information about cor-porate responsibility at SIX is available on the website www.six-group.com/cr
More information about employees on page 56
SIX Annual Report 2013 Corporate Responsibility
In 2013 the first Group-wide survey of SIX owners was conducted. Respondents said they were happy with their cooperation with SIX employees, and expressed confidence in the reliability and stability of the infra-structure. They saw the pricing of the services provided as the main area for improvement. They also wanted to be more proactively involved in ongoing product devel-opment, and to see greater emphasis placed on their requirements.
The first measure arising from this survey was the trial introduction of top account management in the autumn, starting with two of the biggest SIX clients. SIX wants to use this new, cross-divisional, coordinated approach to look after clients in a more harmonized way, solve prob-lems more efficiently and work with clients as a strategic partner when developing new products and services.
SIX will use the results of this trial to refine the concept, with the aim of applying it to other major clients.
Surveys were also conducted in individual business ar-eas, and measures were defined on the basis of the pre-vious year’s surveys. In 2012 the Swiss Exchange busi-ness area had carried out a comprehensive survey of its participants, issuers and other clients. A number of measures were defined on the basis of the useful feed-back received. For example, the website for issuers was completely redesigned and communication with clients was optimized. These steps are designed to ensure that SIX continues to work closely with these clients, who were already very happy with the partnership.
In the Securities Services business area, SIX relies on the findings of the annual survey of banks conducted by
“Global Custodian” magazine. Thanks to the measures implemented on the basis of the previous year’s results as part of the strategic realignment, SIX received very good scores in an international comparison with other
major central depositories. SIX achieved a top position again, especially in areas where it had lost ground slightly in the previous year.
Data quality was repeatedly mentioned in the regular cli-ent surveys conducted by Financial Information. In 2013 SIX therefore interviewed selected clients in order to ask them more about this topic. On the basis of the findings, measures were defined in the areas of data standards and derivatives, for example, with the aim of making sig-nificant improvements.
In the Payment Services business area, SIX also carried out qualitative surveys with major retail companies and banks for the first time in 2013. In general, clients from both segments were very satisfied, especially as re-gards the reliability and security of the products and technologies. The measures introduced as a result in-cluded improving communication with, and support for, clients in the event of disruptions and problems, and consulting them more closely in connection with inno-vations and market trends.
Compliance and protecting client data
For SIX and all its employees, it goes without saying that all applicable laws and internal guidelines and directives must be complied with. The Code of Compliance de-scribes the legal framework and rules that all employees are required to observe and uphold. Group directives specify the duties of all SIX employees in detail.
Correct conduct in relation to competition is of funda-mental importance. An internal directive on this topic was issued during the year under review. All manage-ment staff were required to complete an e-learning course on the topic of competition law for consolidation purposes. During the year under review, the required training courses on money laundering were conducted in the business areas subject to anti-money laundering legislation in Switzerland or Luxembourg.
Employees per business area Mitarbeitende nach Bereichen
Swiss Exchange 6.9 % Securities Services 10.0 %
Financial Information 30.9 % Corporate Functions 7.4%
IT & Logistics 9.8%
Payment Services 34.9 %
SIX Annual Report 2013
Full-time equivalents Switzerland 279.5 371.2 262.1 378.8 410.7 623.0 2,325.3 2,400.1 –3
Full-time equivalents abroad – – – – 755.5 696.5 1,452.0 1,153.9 26
Total full-time equivalents (FTEs) 279.5 371.2 262.1 378.8 1,166.2 1,319.5 3,777.3 3,554.0 6
Employees Switzerland 300 379 282 398 431 658 2,448 2,518 –3
Employees abroad – – – – 773 752 1,525 1,181 29
Total employees (HC) 300 379 282 398 1,204 1,410 3,973 3,699 7
Personnel structure Switzerland (HC)
Men 196 352 198 271 329 465 1,811 1,872 –3
Women 104 27 84 127 102 193 637 646 1
At employee level 135 234 153 237 251 400 1,410 1,490 –5
At management level including
senior management 165 145 129 161 180 258 1,038 1,028 1
Proportion of women in management
(%) 1 16 16 0
Attrition and absences Switzerland
Attrition rate (%) 1, 2 14.6 12.0 8.9 16.9 8.8 6.4 10.8 13.8 –21
Absence rate due to illness
(days/ FTE) 4.7 7.3 6.1 7.0 6.2 7.4 6.6 7.1 –7
Absence rate due to accidents
(days/FTE) 0.4 1.1 0.1 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.6 0.5 20
Training and ongoing education Switzerland 3
Average time spent on training and
ongoing education (days/HC) 1 0.69 0.82 0.67 1.17 1.50 0.73 0.94 0.83 13
Commercial and IT trainees, total 48 46 4
1 Weighted average based on the number of employees in Switzerland.
2 Gross fluctuation: includes all departures as a result of employment being terminated, either by SIX or by employees.
3 Only includes courses that are part of the standard training offered by SIX.
SIX places a great deal of emphasis on the protection of data and information, which it ensures partly by means of physical security measures, in particular in the data processing center. SIX also takes the utmost care to en-sure that data, information and business documents are
handled correctly by employees. The company has issued a number of directives containing
The number of people employed abroad rose by 26 % owing to the acquisition of PayLife Bank GmbH and Pay-Life Services GmbH. In IT & Logistics, 15 jobs were cut as a result of cost optimization, while 60 jobs were lost in Securities Services in connection with the realign-ment of that business area. However, gross staff turn-over fell by 21 % because more jobs had been cut in the previous year.
specific rules of conduct on this topic and has made var-ious web-based training courses (both compulsory and optional) and specialist events available to its employ-ees. In 2013 a campaign was run in Switzerland to in-crease employee awareness on the topic of information security.
In the 2013 financial year SIX made targeted investments in staff development. A total of 1,397 employees at-tended internal seminars, which was an increase of 36 % on the previous year. The average time per em-ployee spent on training increased by 13 %.
Staff structure
More Information on pro-tection of data on page 44
Corporate Responsibility
SIX Annual Report 2013