Canton of Basel-City's First Digital Bond Rated 'AAA'; Paves The Way For Other Issuers

FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Nov. 27, 2023--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'AAA' issue rating to the Canton of Basel-City's first digital bond. The Swiss franc (CHF) 105 million, four-year, senior unsecured bond ranks pari passu with all the issuer's other senior unsecured, unsubordinated bonds and carries a coupon of 1.3% per year. We believe that the inherent novel risks of the new digital bond, while present, should be manageable for the canton (AAA/Stable/A-1+) and not affect investors. The issuance represents the first time the canton is leveraging distributed ledger technology for its funding. The bonds, issued with canton-affiliated Basler Kantonalbank as sole lead manager, are registered as uncertificated securities in the main register of SIX Digital Exchange AG. They

...November 27, 2023 FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Nov. 27, 2023--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its '###' issue rating to the Canton of Basel-City's first digital bond. The Swiss franc (CHF) 105 million, four-year, senior unsecured bond ranks pari passu with all the issuer's other senior unsecured, unsubordinated bonds and carries a coupon of 1.3% per year. We believe that the inherent novel risks of the new digital bond, while present, should be manageable for the canton (###/Stable/A-1+) and not affect investors. The issuance represents the first time the canton is leveraging distributed ledger technology for its funding. The bonds, issued with canton-affiliated Basler Kantonalbank as sole lead manager, are registered as uncertificated securities in the main register of SIX Digital Exchange AG. They are dual listed with SIX Digital Trading AG and the conventional SIX Swiss Exchange. The latter also maintains an operational link with the digital register, which allows investors access...

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