The global securities finance industry generated $828 million in revenue for lenders in April 2022, according to DataLend, the market data service of fintech EquiLend. The figure represents a 20% increase year over year from the $690 million generated in April 2021.
Global broker-to-broker activity, where broker-dealers lend and borrow securities from each other, totaled an additional $229 million in revenue in April, a 16% increase from 2021.
According to DataLend, the increase in lender-to-broker revenue over 2021 was driven primarily by equity lending, where the average fee increased by 18%. More specifically, North American equities saw a 39% increase in the average fee year over year.
Fixed income markets also experienced increases, with lending revenue from corporate debt up 78% and government debt up 6% relative to 2021. Similarly to equities, the rise in corporate debt revenue was driven by a 71% increase in the average fee.
Compared to March 2022, the $828 million in revenue generated for lenders represents a 1% decrease from the $836 million generated for lenders last month.
The top five earners in April 2022 were Rivian Automotive (RIVN), iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), Sweetgreen (SG), Beyond Meat (BYND) and GameStop (GME). The five securities in total generated over $53 million in revenue in the month.