A £3.5 billion listing brought to market by a Manx firm and the addition of another local business as a listing member were among the highlights in what was a record breaking year for The International Stock Exchange during 2018.

The TISE is a regulated marketplace with clients and products from within the European time zone but outside the EU.

Headquartered in Guernsey, it has offices in Jersey and the Isle of Man and it says it offers a ’convenient and cost-effective service for listing a wide range of securities’.

There were 865 new listings on TISE during 2018, which represents an increase of 160 (22.7%) on 2017 and is the largest number of securities listed in a calendar year on the Exchange since the business was established in 1998. It took the total number of listed securities on TISE to 2,857 at the end of December 2018.

TISE opened an office in the Isle of Man in 2017.

Fiona Le Poidevin, the chief executive of the International Stock Exchange Group Ltd, said: ’I’m delighted that in 2018 we were able to not only surpass the stellar achievements of 2017 but also, at the same time, set a new record for the largest number of securities listed in a single year.’

A number of firms joined as listing members of the Exchange during 2018, including Douglas-based FIM Capital.

During 2018, TISE played a role in an Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) transaction when it became home to what is believed to the first-ever listing on a regulated exchange of notes digitised on a blockchain; US$4.1 billion of bonds were listed on TISE as part of the world’s most expensive real estate transaction for a single building, The Center, which is Hong Kong’s fifth largest skyscraper; and a £3.5 billion debt issuance from sports betting and gaming giant GVC Group was the first listing on TISE to be sponsored by one of its Isle of Man based member firms.

Blockchain is defined as ’a system in which a record of transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network’.

In the second half of the year, TISE introduced a new market segment, TISE Green, to promote green-friendly investments and updated the listing rules, in particular to appeal to small and medium sized enterprises SMEs).

Carolyn Gelling, head of the Isle of Man office of the organisation, said: ’During 2019 will be focused on showcasing how both local companies and those from outside the Isle of Man, such as UK SMEs, can potentially benefit from listing on TISE.

convenient

’From our office in the Isle of Man we will be reaching out across the cities of the Northern Powerhouse and beyond to demonstrate how TISE is a more convenient exchange for listing debt and equity instruments compared to larger exchanges.

’We will be working closely with our network of local member firms, professional advisers and administrators in this regard to bring more business to the Isle of Man and in doing so, sustain and generate employment locally and create additional revenues to the island.

’TISE is pleased to support the island’s economy through direct employment in our office, the professional services work that new listings create and our participation in local industry through the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) Isle of Man branch, the Isle of Man Wealth and Fund Services Association and the Chamber of Commerce finance and professiona services committee."

Mrs Le Poidevin added: ’There were a number of significant developments at the Exchange during 2018 of which our team should be very proud. We look forward to working with all our stakeholders as we take further strides forward in 2019.’