Securities Lending Lawsuit Targets Major Banks

A lawsuit filed in New York by the parent of electronic trading platform firm AQS alleges that six investment banks acted together to keep the firm out of the securities lending business. According to the Wall Street Journal, the AQS platform offered participants access to real-time prices on trades that reflected actual bids and offers and increased transparency on fees and pricing in securities lending transactions. The report cited critics who say that the fees collected by middlemen banks on the most lucrative trades would be far lower if borrowers and lenders met in a centralized market where pricing was transparent. A similar lawsuit was filed against the top banks by pension funds in 2017. The AQS platform was sold in a distressed sale in 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported.