Market: United States
Categories: Collateral Eligibility, Securities Lending, Post Trade Technology
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a No Action Letter and an Order (Release 34-105108) to expand permissible collateral under Rule 15c3-3 (Customer Protection Rule) to allow broker-dealers to pledge a basket of Russell 1000 and/or S&P 500 customer equity securities as collateral when borrowing equity securities, subject to conditions and limitations. This marks the first time in the rule's 54-year history that equity collateral has been permitted for US broker-dealer securities lending.
Effective date: March 30th, 2026
The US equity securities lending market (~$6 trillion in lendable assets) can now utilize the same collateral types that have been standard practice in international markets for decades. Globally, approximately 60% of equity loans use non-cash collateral; the US has operated at 47% due to this regulatory restriction. This reform eliminates that structural disadvantage.
Unlike competitors building new capabilities to address this US regulatory change, Pirum has spent 25 years facilitating clients' use of equity collateral for securities lending in European and Asia-Pacific markets. Our platform is proven, tried-and-tested infrastructure – not a theoretical response to regulatory evolution.
Pirum's Equity Collateral Solutions support includes:
Proven at scale: Currently managing US$5.2 trillion in collateral across 150+ institutions in markets where this has been standard practice for decades (Europe, APAC, Canada).
Operational complexity solved: We've processed every challenge US firms will encounter – index rebalancing, volatile intraday pricing, corporate action entitlements, concentration risk, triparty workflows
99.9% STP rate: Our automation handles the 10x operational complexity increase that equity collateral introduces vs bonds
Fast deployment: Existing international clients can extend to US operations immediately; new clients benefit from mature, de-risked implementation playbooks
Complete lifecycle coverage: From pre-trade (Pirum TradeConnect) through collateral management (CollateralConnect) to corporate actions (CoacsConnect) to regulatory reporting (RegConnect) – a unified platform vs point solutions.
Broker-dealers, agent lenders, and beneficial owners should engage their Operations, Technology, and Compliance teams to assess equity collateral readiness. Pirum is conducting technical workshops in May and June 2026 covering implementation roadmaps, system requirements, triparty integration, and lessons learned from 25 years of international equity collateral operations.
Contact your Pirum relationship manager or reach out to our Commercial Development team to schedule a consultation.