Astana International Exchange (“AIX”, “Exchange”) is pleased to announce the 23rd successful Securities Lending and Borrowing deal since the start of this activity in March 2020. Over this period, the securities lending activity totalled $600K/850,000 securities in 7 different symbols.
There are currently one Authorized Lender and 3 Authorized Borrowers. There are 15 active loans while 8 were successfully closed.
Olivier Gueris, Chief Operating Officer of AIX, said:
“AIX is one of the very few frontier markets to offer its market-makers a securities lending service to cover short-selling positions within a robust and proven operational and risk-management framework. Worldwide, securities lending is a mature, and effective market activity that has persisted through macroeconomic events such as credit shocks, the sovereign bond crisis and now the pandemic. In addition to bringing return benefits to lenders, securities lending plays an important role in the smooth functioning of developed financial markets by supporting market liquidity and efficiency.”
Securities Lending and Borrowing is available to appointed Market Makers after being authorized by AIX Regulation & Compliance. Securities lending may also be used to prevent settlement failures. The Securities Lending and Borrowing program is governed by bilateral arrangements based on industry-standard securities lending agreement. Market Makers entering into a valid securities lending agreement with an authorized lender are allowed to perform covered short selling.