An EquiLend platform set-up for securities finance traders is attracting a host of new names since its launch twelve months ago.

Over sixty firms, a mixture of banks and brokers (lenders and borrowers), are in the process of onboarding to Next Generation Trading, NGT for short.

The technology allows traders to loan or borrow securities across multiple counterparties, rather than the traditional routes of email, phone, messaging platforms or EquiLend’s existing AutoBorrow system, which offered less flexibility and was geared more toward general collateral trading.

Both general collateral and hard-to-borrow securities can be traded via NGT, which allows for real-time bid/offer negotiation and improved execution.

Information needed to correctly settle trades is communicated upfront, mapping back to client proprietary systems, which can cut operational costs. 

Also, T&Cs can be negotiated on a trade-by-trade basis rather than with predetermined “schedules” as on AutoBorrow.

EquiLend, whose owners include Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, began building the system back in 2013 after calls from clients for a consolidated trading system.

Eventually the firm rolled out NGT last April and the platform now looks to be gaining widespread adoption.

More than thirty clients already use the system every day, trading an average $1.4bn over 24 hours, and sixty two firms are onboarding.

Brian Lamb, chief executive of EquiLend – which also has a securities finance data platform DataLend, described NGT as the “biggest initiative in the securities finance trading arena in years” when it launched.

“We collaborated with clients on the ground across five continents to ensure the global securities finance industry would be prepared for a new trading dynamic focused on transparency and efficiency.”