Over half of market participants see substantial challenges in their securities finance operations – specifically in terms of management of collateral, with manual processing causing serious issues for a third of the market​ & regulatory reporting proving to be the most costly in terms of time & resource.

While securities lending is especially challenged, there are a number of key challenges across the cycle – specifically in delivery, where manual & paper processing increases regulatory risk; the lack of standardised definitions & terminology & operational headcount dealing with settlement & delivery issues.

Removing reconciliations & automating regulatory reporting would have the largest P&L impact in terms of potential changes on Securities Finance operations.

Our survey respondents see removal of reconciliations, automated regulatory reporting & a golden copy / record as the top three perceived benefits of DLT in Securities Finance.

The cost of maintaining compliance with new & evolving regulation, continues to be a significant cost driver & growing burden for firms. Over a quarter of costs are currently allocated to data reporting – with further increases expected.