Securities lending
Under a securities loan or stock loan,[1] a “lender” transfers securities to a “borrower” in return for the borrower’s promise to return equivalent securities to the lender in the future.[2] In return, the borrower provides agreed collateral to the lender equal to the value of the borrowed securities. If the value of the borrowed securities rises, the borrower must provide more collateral (and if it falls, the borrower may ask for some of the collateral back). The lender keeps market exposure to the borrowed securities at all times: the borrower only has to return what it has borrowed, even if it has fallen in value. Therefore, stock loans are used to short-sell securities.
Stock lending refers generally to the loan of equity securities under a 2010 GMSLA or a Master Securities Lending Agreement (or similar documents, and is often mentioned in the same breath as repo.
Definitions: Defined in the Capital Adequacy Directive 2006/49/EC (EUR Lex) as
securities or commodities lending and securities or commodities borrowing mean any transaction in which an institution or its counterparty transfers securities or commodities against appropriate collateral, subject to a commitment that the borrower will return equivalent securities or commodities at some future date or when requested to do so by the transferor, that transaction being securities or commodities lending for the institution transferring the securities or commodities and being securities or commodities borrowing for the institution to which they are transferred;
- ↑ in EU speak, “securities or commodities lending and securities or commodities borrowing”. Elegant, huh?
- ↑ It may be at an agreed date, or on the lender’s request, or at the borrower’s option.