The global securities finance industry generated $943 million in revenue for lenders in July 2023, according to DataLend, the market data service of fintech EquiLend. The figure represents a 1% increase from the $938 million generated in July 2022.
Global broker-to-broker activity, where broker-dealers lend and borrow securities from each other, totaled an additional $234 million in revenue in July, an 11% decrease year-over-year.
Month-over-month (mom), the $943 million in revenue generated for lenders in July represents a 6% increase from the $888 million generated in June 2023.
According to DataLend, the slight uptick in lender-to-broker revenue over 2022 was largely driven by an improvement in the APAC equity market. Lending revenue rose 24% year-over-year on the back of a 17% increase in balances and a 6% increase in fees.
In the market for US equities, despite revenue falling 10% from 2022, AMC bolstered lenders’ returns as month-over-month revenue improved 24%. Lending revenue for AMC, already the top earner in June, jumped 193% from $29 million to $84 million.
Performance for corporate debt continued to shine with a year-over-year revenue improvement of 34%. Looking at North American corporates, the biggest contributors to the increase, revenue for investment-grade bonds rose 74%, while high-yield issuances climbed 34%.
The top five earners in the securities lending market in July 2023 were AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC), Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI), Nikola Corporation (NKLA), Beyond Meat Inc. (BYND) and C3.AI Inc. (AI). The five securities in total generated $183 million in revenue for the month.