Stock-Loan Schemes

[italkcash]

It may not have the cachet of mergers and acquisitions or leveraged buyouts, but the little-known business of securities lending is one of Wall Street's most lucrative. Investment banks rake in roughly $10 billion a year on the fees they collect for lending stocks and bonds to so-called short sellers—intensely secretive hedge funds and other professional traders who bet on falling prices.

In a classic short sale, a trader borrows shares from an investment firm and sells them. If the stock falls as expected, the short seller can pay back the loan and make a profit by repurchasing the shares at a lower price. When the investment firms don't have enough shares on hand in their inventory, they sometimes seek out independent finders, who work the phones, calling friends, relatives, and buddies at other stock loan desks to make up the difference.