The global securities finance industry generated $631 million in revenue for lenders in February 2021, according to DataLend, the market data division of fintech EquiLend.
While the figure represents a 21.4% decrease from the $803 million generated for lenders in January 2021, there was a 4.2% increase year over year from the $606 million generated in February 2020.
Global broker-to-broker activity, where broker-dealers lend and borrow securities from each other, totaled an additional $283 million in revenue in February, an 8.9% increase from 2020.
According to DataLend, the increase in lender-to-broker revenue over 2020 was driven by North American equities, which exhibited a 13.7% increase over February 2020. EMEA (-16.3%) and APAC (-6.7%) both saw declines in equity revenue compared to the same month in 2020.
For fixed income securities, global revenue generated from government debt saw a 20.7% increase, while corporate debt saw a decrease of -21.0% despite corporate debt on-loan balances increasing by 17% in 2021.
Dupont De Nemours (DD) provided an early boost in revenue as its exchange offer for shares in International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) carried positions into the early days of February. Corporate events have always played a key role in revenue generation within securities finance, and the combined revenue generated for the top earner (DD) and fourth highest earner (IFF) exceeded $42.4 million.
Rounding out the top five earners in February 2021 were Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU), Rocket Companies (RKT) and Gamestop Corporation (GME). The five securities in total generated over $80.6 million in revenue in the month.