Exclusive securities lending agreement

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Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction®


ESLA.png


ESLA


It’s stock lending, for posh people.


Docs Appendage to a stock lending agreement. Extra mark for needless verbosity. 3
Amendability Bilateral. Easyt peasy. 0
Collateral Yes, per stock lending agreement. Liquid, daily, but may be crappy assets. 3
Transferability Not without novation. But why would you? 0
Leverage Nope 0
Fright-o-meter Well, it’s used in connection with short selling but really, snoresville. 1

An exclusive securities lending agreement (“ESLA”) is an arrangement where a Lender grants a Borrower the exclusive right to borrow from a portfolio of securities. It is documented under a separate ESLA, an additional legal agreement governing the terms of the exclusivity. It covers a pre-agreed period and may include specific programme parameters and eligibility criteria.

Conceptual question: is an ESLA a form of equity option? Should you figure it into your shareholding disclosure programme? Is it subject to EMIR collateralisation and all that guff?

See also