Securities finance – including stock lending by investment funds – declined last year in both equities and fixed income.
The activity generated $8.66 billion (€7.7 billion) in revenue globally in 2019 – a 13% decline from the year before, although 2018 had been a notably high year.
DataLend, which calculated the figure, said the decline in revenue was experienced across all regions and in both the equity and fixed income markets.
On-loan balances and fees to borrow also declined in all regions, with the exception of Asia-Pacific, which experienced a marginal increase in balance.
Nancy Allen, global product owner at DataLend, said macro uncertainty – including trade wars, Brexit and central bank actions – resulted in a general lack of conviction by hedge funds and alternative investment managers in 2019, leading to lower on-loan balances and fees.
However, Allen added that a significant amount of revenue was generated from lending a very concentrated number of securities.
“Beneficial owners lending those ‘hot’ securities likely will have experienced a more positive 2019,” she said.
Equity lending markets experienced a slight recovery in the second half where a handful of “specials”—also known as “hot” or “hard-to-borrow” securities that trade 500 basis points (bps) and above in the securities lending market—drove revenue higher.
The top five revenue-generating securities in the global securities lending market in 2019 were Beyond Meat, Aurora Cannabis, Canopy Growth, NIO and Casino Guichard-Perrachon.
©2020 funds europe
