<p>Stock lending is primarily a professional activity. The supply of stocks in the lending market comes mainly from pension funds and insurance companies, while intermediaries provide valuable services by taking positions as borrowers as well as lenders. Borrowers use stock lending for various reasons. For instance, hedge funds usually borrow stocks to cover a short position. There has been a lot of controversy in the stock lending industry and the debate has mainly concerned its effects for the stock markets. The objective of this thesis is to describe the Swedish stock lending market by analyzing the historical development from 1995 to 2006. Securities lending has increased enormously in recent years and our aim is to explore what has contributed to this positive development by describing the different perspectives in the stock lending market – lender, borrower, intermediary and the Swedish Securities Dealers Association. Our conclusion is that the number of stocks on loan per week is showing a 977 percent growth between 1995 and 2006. The correlation between the number of shares on loan and its market value is highly positive during the period of study, except for 2002. The stock lending market is a legitimate investment activity which plays an important role in supporting efficient markets. According to our data stock lending supports hedging activities, accelerates price corrections in overvalued stocks and facilitates liquidity in capital markets.</p>

Stock lending is primarily a professional activity. The supply of stocks in the lending market comes mainly from pension funds and insurance companies, while intermediaries provide valuable services by taking positions as borrowers as well as lenders. Borrowers use stock lending for various reasons. For instance, hedge funds usually borrow stocks to cover a short position. There has been a lot of controversy in the stock lending industry and the debate has mainly concerned its effects for the stock markets. The objective of this thesis is to describe the Swedish stock lending market by analyzing the historical development from 1995 to 2006. Securities lending has increased enormously in recent years and our aim is to explore what has contributed to this positive development by describing the different perspectives in the stock lending market – lender, borrower, intermediary and the Swedish Securities Dealers Association. Our conclusion is that the number of stocks on loan per week is showing a 977 percent growth between 1995 and 2006. The correlation between the number of shares on loan and its market value is highly positive during the period of study, except for 2002. The stock lending market is a legitimate investment activity which plays an important role in supporting efficient markets. According to our data stock lending supports hedging activities, accelerates price corrections in overvalued stocks and facilitates liquidity in capital markets.