The global securities finance industry generated $4.5 billion in revenue for lenders in the first half of 2021, according to DataLend, the market data division of fintech EquiLend.
The figure represents a 17% increase from the $3.9 billion generated in H1 of 2020. Revenue from equities increased by 15% year over year to $3.6 billion due to short squeezes in January and heavy borrower demand for recent IPOs and SPACs. Revenue generated from fixed income securities increased by 23% over the same time frame to $886 million, driven by a rise in on-loan values in government debt.
In June, the global securities finance industry generated $859 million in revenue for lenders, a 2% increase from $845 million in May and an 11% increase year over year. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by equities in the Americas, which saw an increase of 18%; notably, the 11 global top-earning securities in June were all U.S. common shares.
Global broker-to-broker activity, where broker-dealers lend and borrow securities from each other, totaled an additional $263 million in revenue in June, a 22% decrease from 2020.
The top five earners in the securities lending market in June 2021 were Upstart Holdings (UPST), SoFi Technologies (SOFI), UiPath Inc (PATH), Skillz Inc (SKLZ) and Churchill Capital Corp IV (CCIV). The five securities in total generated over $92 million in revenue in the month.