Brokers can only lend your shares if you have borrowed money from them. And they can only lend out shares pledged as collateral.
So it is not like Joe the Plumber who has 500K in fully paid securities is getting his portfolio loaned out for free.
You get a lower Margin interest in return for pledging securities as collateral during the process of borrowing on margin.
Politicians are totally clueless.
"The measure would require brokers to alert investors that they may lose voting rights if their shares are loaned to short- sellers on the date of a corporate election, according to the summary."
LOL, This is already notified to customers who borrow on margin and what happens to re hypothecated shares pledged as collateral.
Read the Margin agreement form. When you borrow money and put something up for collateral, technically you no longer own it during that time until you pay your margin debit off and collateral is returned to the customer control area.
If Politicians keep it up, 20% margin interest rates
