Swiss Market Index

Acceptance criteria

To be accepted into the SMI, a given issue must meet stringent requirements with regard to liquidity and market capitalisation. On one hand, it must represent at least 50% of the average liquidity of the SPI constituent issues and, on the other, have a minimum free-float capitalisation equal to 0.45% or more of the entire SPI capitalisation. Moreover, trading volume and capitalisation are the determining factors in the quarterly rankings. The composition of the index is reviewed annually on the third Friday in September.

2007 restructuring

The SMI comprises a fixed number of 20 securities as of the ordinary review date in September 2007. Prior to this date, the index contained 25 listings. The ranking as of 30 June 2007 (according to average capitalisation and the turnover achieved during one year, i.e. from 1 July 2006 through 30 June 2007) determined which companies would remain within the SMI. On 5 July 2007, SWX announced that Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Lonza Group, Givaudan, SGS and one of the two classes of shares of Swatch Group would leave the SMI as of 24 September 2007 leaving 20 securities in the index.^[2]

2017 introduction of capped weightings

In 2017, in order to address the issue that the top three constituents (Nestlé, Roche, Novartis) account for more than 60% of the index capitalization, SIX Swiss Exchange changed the rules of the SMI to introduce capped weighting.^[3] The weight of any constituent in the SMI index can no longer exceed 18%.

Readjusting any weight exceeding 18% down to that value is done, in principle, on a quarterly basis. However, whenever a constituent reaches a weight exceeding 20% during a quarter (intra-quarter breach), then the weight is brought back to 18% without waiting for the next quarterly review.

To make the transition smoother, there was an initial transition period during which these changes were progressively implemented, in steps of at most 3% per quarter.

Additionally, a new index, the SPI 20, was created to continue indexing the 20 SMI constituents without any caps.

Current constituents

Distribution of SMI expanded index firms by canton of HQ

Distribution of SMI expanded index market capitalization by canton of HQ

As of June 2018, the following 20 stocks make up the SMI index.^[4]

Company	Logo	ICB Sector	Canton	Ticker symbol
ABB		electronic and electrical equipment	Zurich	ABBN
Adecco		business training and employment agencies	Zurich	ADEN
Credit Suisse		banks	Zurich	CSGN
Geberit		building materials and fixtures	St. Gallen	GEBN
Givaudan		specialty chemicals	Geneva	GIVN
Julius Baer Group		banks	Zurich	BAER
LafargeHolcim		building materials and fixtures	St. Gallen	LHN
Lonza		pharmaceuticals and biotechnology	Basel	LONN
Nestlé		food products	Vaud	NESN
Novartis		pharmaceuticals	Basel	NOVN
Richemont		clothing and accessories	Geneva	CFR
Roche		pharmaceuticals	Basel	ROG
SGS		business support services	Geneva	SGSN
Sika		specialty chemicals	Baar	SIKA
Swatch Group		clothing and accessories	Bern	UHR
Swiss Life		life insurance	Zurich	SLHN
Swiss Re		reinsurance	Zurich	SREN
Swisscom		fixed line telecommunications	Bern	SCMN
UBS		banks	Zurich	UBSG
Zurich Insurance Group		full line insurance	Zurich	ZURN

2009

In September 2009, Nobel Biocare and Bâloise were replaced with Lonza Group and SGS.^[5]

2011

In September 2011, Lonza Group was replaced with Givaudan.^[6]

2012

In June 2012, Synthes was replaced with Geberit following the merger with Johnson & Johnson.^[7]

2016

In January 2016, Transocean was replaced with Swiss Life.^[8]

2017

In May 2017, Lonza Group was added back to the SMI to replace Actelion after its purchase by Johnson & Johnson.^[9] In the same month, Sika AG replaced Syngenta after its purchase by ChemChina.^[10]

2018

In June 2018, Sika announced a 1:60 stock split.^[11] Before this change, it was the SMI constituent with the highest price per share.