Margin lending
Prime Brokerage Anatomy™
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This is the classic prime brokerage trade. I'm a hedge fund, and I am all about Vega — the Greek that denotes leverage.[1]
How do I get my spectacular returns? Alpha Leverage, that’s how. I buy securities “on margin”. This means I buy the security, and you, dear prime broker, pay for it. Well, strictly speaking, you lend me the funds I need to pay for it, but in practice you settle the transaction directly with the executing broker and you take delivery of the security on my behalf. For, in return for your loan, I let you look after the security for me, whereby you can (A) have a security interest over it to secure your loan, and (B) you can rehypothecate it into the market to defray your funding costs of providing me the loan in the first place.
I must pay you initial margin as cover should the value of my new asset decline against repayment value of the outstanding loan.
See also
References
- ↑ “My name is Vega. I live on the second floor. I live upstairs from you. Yes, I think you’ve seen me before.” — Suzanne Luca