Multibank securities lending service EquiLend is reporting $11 billion in transactions have been passed over the platform within its first two weeks in operation.
EquiLend was formed last year by a consortium of leading financial institutions to develop a global securities lending platform. Founding members are Barclays Global Investors, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, State Street, and UBS Warburg.
The open standards-based platform secured full regulatory approval at the beginning of June and quietly went live two weeks ago, allowing borrowers and lenders of securities to transact with each other through a secure 'hub'.
Ian Drachman, CEO of EquiLend, comments: "Through the use of XML, we allow borrowers and lenders of securities to benefit from cross-platform compatibility."
On July 8 alone, he says, the platform facilitated 3600 transactions representing securities valued at $2.2 billion. In addition, approximately 70,000 contracts were compared.
"The level of activity on the platform in the first week of operation is a resounding validation of our model," notes Dirk Pruis, president of EquiLend.