The short sellers put up collateral, agreed to pay dividends, and paid a small amount of interest. These middle-men companies took a big slice of the earnings.  The 401k funds got only a little,  but did not complain because they thought it was essentially a risk free source of extra money.

Unfortunately, the middle-man companies overseeing the transactions got greedy, and started investing the collateral in commercial paper, instead of safer T-bills.  When the financial crisis hit, and Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, there was a panic in the commercial paper market, and some of the invested collateral suffered losses.

These Wall Street firms then passed the losses onto the funds.  Ultimately, it was the “little guy retirees” who are paying the price.  Effected S&P 500 funds, for example, lagged their benchmark index by 11 basis points (0.11%) before fees.  Mortgage-backed funds lagged by up to 53 basis points (0.53%).

Even though these losses caused by poorly invested collateral are insignificant compared to the overall loss in the mutual funds (e.g. the S&P 500 index lost 36% in 2008), they still angered some investors – who have filed class action law suits.

Overall, this situation seems to be limited to mutual funds.  People with brokerage accounts who buy individual stocks do not have to worry.  All the major brokerages keep 100% of any fees from lending securities to short sellers.  In return, they cover any losses.

Today stock loans are very popular.   Since the financial markets have been turned up-side down and banks are not lending, one method of financing has gained a lot of attention – securities based lending.

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Securities Lending is a long-established process.  In fact, hundreds of successful stock-lending transactions have been executed involving the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), National Stock Market and Small Cap Stock Market (NASDAQ), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB), and certain foreign exchanges.

For those with money invested in marketable securities, there is a safe way to leverage their assets and take advantage of the golden opportunities now available to cash-in on terrific RE investment opportunities which are available today.

If you are a forward-thinking investor who wants to retain the future ownership of your assets as well as leverage the present value of your securities for immediate cash needs, this can be a terrific program.

These loans are –

·         Simple & Quick – NO Credit Check / NO Income Verification / NO Upfront Fees / NO Closing Costs / NO Personal Guarantee

·         Loans are “Non-Purpose” – loan can be used for virtually anything borrower wants to accomplish (personal or business)

·         Loans are “Non-Recourse” – giving the borrower the opportunity to simply “walk away” if the collateral falls below a set floor amount

·         High Loan-to-Values – up to 80% LTV (depending upon security); which is much higher than banks and brokerage companies can offer

·         Loans are Interest Only – principal payment at maturity; otherwise loans can be refinanced or extended

·         Low Fixed Interest Rates – usually between 2% to 4%

·         Loan Term – minimum of 3 yrs; also 5 yr / 7 yr / 10 yrs

·         Quick Funded – usually within 5 to 7 business days

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2009-196

Washington, D.C., Sept. 11, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a roundtable about securities lending and short sale issues on September 29 and September 30.

Additional Materials

• Notice of Roundtable Discussion; Request for Comment
• Submit comments

The roundtable agenda is available. The list of panelists will be announced at a later date.

The roundtable discussion will be held in the auditorium at SEC headquarters at 100 F Street NE in Washington, D.C. On September 29, the roundtable will focus on securities lending issues and take place from 9:30 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m. On September 30, the roundtable will focus on short sale pre-borrowing and additional short sale disclosures and take place from 9:30 a.m. to approximately 12:30 p.m.

The public is invited to observe the roundtable discussion. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. The roundtable discussion also will be available via webcast on the SEC Web site.

For additional information about the roundtable, contact the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets at (202) 551-5720.

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With the advanced trading system of short selling, traders have discovered a new way to trade on the stock market: pessimistically. Short sellers hope for the decline of price on a certain stock so they can sell back the stock at a cheaper price than they sold it and pocket the difference.

Because short selling deals with borrowed securities, securities lending has become a huge business. To learn more about it, check out Naked Short Selling: The Illegal Hacking of the U. S. Financial System, an informative E-book that will help clarify the entire system.

However, a large risk has entered the stock exchange when it comes to short sellers: naked short sellers. Naked short sellers sell the stock short; however, they do not in fact own the borrowed stock and thus are selling their clients nothing but ‘naked’ (non existent) stock.

Basically what happens is when a short seller sells the borrowed securities to a client, he has three days to deliver the goods. However, if the short seller is selling ‘naked’ stock, then the goods are never actually delivered because they are never in the short seller’s possession.

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So now what? A naked short seller has failed to deliver leaving the buyer with nothing.

What happens next?

This is where the term ‘buying-in’ comes into action.

Due to the outburst of naked short sellers, the process of securities lending is bombarded with ‘failure to deliver’ issues. Therefore ‘buy-in notices’ are a regular occurrence.

Buying-in is the process where an investor is forced to repurchase the shares because the seller did not deliver the stocks. It is unfortunate for the buyer as he got ripped up. However, it is also unfortunate for the short seller as he will be forced to pay the difference in goods.

This is how it works: Once the allotted time for the goods to be delivered is past overdue (usually 10 days), then the unsatisfied buyer will notify the exchange about this issue, requesting a ‘buy-in’. During this time, a ‘buy-in’ notice will be sent to the seller of the borrowed securities who failed to deliver. If the seller fails to answer, then the broker will have to pay on their behalf. The seller will have to pay the broker back at whatever the shares are then worth.

Make sense or still confused? If so, for a better understanding check out Naked Short Selling: The Illegal Hacking of the U. S. Financial System.

Here’s an example. Say Dave bought 10,000 shares on XPY for $1.00 each from John. John claimed to borrow the shares from FRD but did not. When Dave does not get his shares, he puts in a buy-in notice. John does not answer this buy-in notice which means his broker, Bob must pay. Dave purchases 10,000 shares from Bob at $1.10 per share. John will be forced to pay this difference.

‘Buying-in’ is a hassle, yes. However, it is a needed due to the illegal process of naked short sellers. This is just one of the many issues caused by these abusive short sellers.

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The individuals that wish the lending company to agree to a short sale must prove they have financial problems and cannot pay their mortgage. The problems in most cases prove to be economic situations, hardships due to illness, or death in the family.

If the home is sold in this manner all the money will go directly to the lending company, the homeowner will not receive funds of any type and will lose all equity in the home. The reason most individuals go with a short sale is to save their credit.

If you are considering a short sale, you may wish to talk with an attorney and of course a real estate agent that understands the negotiation process. The lending company will of course, want to receive as much money as they can that is still owed on the loan, as this is how the lending company stays in business.

If all individuals defaulted on their loans or received a discount on their loan, the lending company would soon go out of business. This is why you need a professional on your side to help you with negotiations.

No matter how much negotiating you do, the lending company has the final say as to whether they will agree with the short sale. The lending company the majority of the times will agree to a short sale if you can prove financial hardship. If the lending company does accept the short sale, you may still be responsible for the remainder of the loan. In almost all cases with a short sale, the full amount of the loan is not met and the original homeowner will still have to pay the remainder of the loan.

If the original homeowners still owe money on the loan, this can be a problem for the new homeowners, as the lending company will hold the title until the remainder of the loan is paid.

In too many cases, the lending company will not accept a short sale, as they believe the person can pay their loan or that they can still receive the amount owed on the loan through foreclosure and resale. However, the decision is often based on the real estate market in the area.

A short sale is actually negotiating with the lending company to get them to take less than you owe on your mortgage loan. If at all possible, the idea is get the lending company to accept the money received from a short sale as the full amount on the loan whereas, nothing more has to be paid to satisfy the loan.

In most cases, during the negotiating the lending company will provide an amount they will accept to satisfy the loan. If this amount is not met, the seller will then have to pay the rest before the lending company will give the title of the home to the new owners.

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Who are these Securities Lenders?

There are hundreds of companies around the world who are security lenders. Often called sec lenders, these corporations range from banks such as the Bank of New York and CitiBank to specific security lender companies such as eSecLending and Wachovia. Financial corporations such as Pension Financial Services and Jefferies and Company also provide sec lenders. Furthermore, these companies are based globally, big name lenders in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Germany, Netherlands, Canada and all around America.

Why do People use Securities Lenders?

Securities lenders will increase the overall performance of the borrowed stock. By borrowing securities, traders can take place in strategies such as pairs trading and risk arbitrage thus making a higher income. They are able to take place is higher risk trading with the cover of shorts and the prevention of fails. Securities lenders also help to manage balance sheets and finance inventory. Furthermore, security lenders act as a middle man, helping the traders along the way.

How Does Securities Lending Actually Work?

Security Lending is often used in short selling on the stock market. A trader will deliver the borrowed stock to another party in order to satisfy the order they agreed on. The sec lender will charge an annual fee for the lending of the stock. The trader will return the borrowed stock at a later time, hopefully when the stock price is down. That way they can re-sell the borrowed stock at a lower price than they initially borrowed it at and pocket the extra money.

Unfortunately, short selling has been taken to a whole new level called naked short selling. It has already had a horrible impact on our market in recent weeks and now the SEC has had to ban short selling altogether for a short while. However, the media speaks of the short selling ban because of corruption in security lending, but they do not mention naked short selling. Why is this?

This is probably due in part to the fact that the first words that come to mind when naked short selling is mentioned is “terrorist attack.” Naked short selling is an attack on the market because it is intentional. Those who initiate the attack know what they are doing and what effect it is going to have on the market. The market is going to tumble, which is exactly what has happened in recent weeks.

There is a very interesting report that explains security lending in detail and how naked short selling has a horrible impact on the securities market. This report is called Wall Street Under Attack: Naked Short Selling and the Illegal Hacking of the U.S. Securities Market.

The U.S. has an incredible financial system, but there are individuals trying to ruin it by taking advantages of loopholes and hurting individuals and companies. America must become educated on this and how it ties into our existing financial crisis so that a stop can be put to it.

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