Quote from OneChicago:
Kingofshorts is correct. Brokerages cannot lend out fully paid for securities. They generally don't. However Pension Funds do and they get very little in return for the loan while taking on considerable risk and it doesn't have to be.
Let's ignore the Pension Funds for now and focus on the retail customer.
Let's consider a margin account where the customer borrows the maximum of 50% of the value of Sears Holding (SHLD) trading today at roughly $70. Lets use a round number of 1000 shares.
Customer borrows 35K at 3.5% which is 1225/yr and 102/mth in interest charges. That is the real cost of trading...not 9.95/trade.
Because he bought on margin the brokerage firm can loan 1/2 the shares out. Today SHLD was being lent at 28% annually. 35K x .28 = $8750/yr or 729/mth. So they make on the interest on the loan AND on loaning the stock out.
So the math works out that by just buying 35K worth without borrowing the customer SAVEs the 102/mth in margin cost and could lend the stock synthetically to capture the 729/mth instead of ceding that to the brokerage.
Buying on Margin and allowing the brokerage to lend it out also exposes the customer to a couple of risks. First any dividends paid are actually received as 'dividends in Lieu' which are taxed at the higher ordinary income rate and not as dividends. This is a significant difference.
Additionally positions that are out on loan may not be covered by SIPC coverage. Given that brokerages have shown they can fail this is very troubling.
What everyone should understand is Sec Lending is an important part of the profit center at brokerages. That is how the brokerages make money. Customers can't loan their own stocks the traditional way but they can using the EFP and Single Stock Futures.
Best
So David,
how is your business doing ?

Couldn't agree more!