Global securities lending revenue hit $3.84 billion in Q1 2026, up 31 percent year-over-year and the largest Q1 ever recorded by EquiLend. EquiLend is a securities lending platform started in late 2001 by a consortium of major banks. The company runs the infrastructure that automates the lending and borrowing of securities (stocks and bonds) between agent lenders, who hold inventory on behalf of pension funds and asset managers, and prime brokers, who borrow on behalf of hedge funds. EquiLend also publishes industry data through its Purple Issue reports, the most recent of which is the source for the figures in this article.
The headline number above is from the EquiLend Purple Issue 22 report, but it is not the most interesting...

