From "shorting murderer" to hedging tools, securities lending ushered in a new opportunity for development.

In 2020, A-share margin trading pilot will usher in the tenth year. In 2019, in the reform of setting up science and technology innovation board and pilot registration system, several breakthroughs were made in the two financing system, including expanding the source of securities, launching a more efficient agreed declaration method for refinancing securities, and clarifying the market-oriented determination of the rate and time limit. At the same time, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges also expanded the two financing targets.

"In the early days, some investors always regarded short selling as a tool and a ‘fall killer’. Over the past year, many institutions began to use securities lending for hedging and risk control, and incorporated it into the quantitative model. The innovation of system drives the market cognition and investment strategy to be more mature. The two financing businesses have entered a new stage. "Liu Shuo, president assistant and general manager of credit trading department of Huachuang securities, has been engaged in this business since the pilot of "two financing". Many changes in the market and industry make her believe that in the future, the development of financing and margin trading will be more balanced, and the types of margin customers and strategies will be more diversified.

The changes of the two financing businesses, especially the securities lending business, are also affecting the investment and market.Liu Shuo predicted that the traditional one-way long investment will be replaced by a more stable and effective long short investment concept. In the future, quantitative investment institutions will become the main force of securities lending market, and refinancing will become the main source of securities. This also means that after ten years of running in development, the securities lending business ecosystem is also accelerating from single, scattered, to integration and symbiosis.

Institutional innovation promotes the development of securities lending

In the process of promoting the reform of science and technology innovation board, margin trading ushered in greater institutional innovation. The most direct impact is that the scale of margin trading accounts for a higher proportion of the balance of the two financing, and the proportion of financing transactions is more balanced. But in Liu Shao’s view, the impact of the digital changes on a shares is far more than that.

From the experience of overseas mature markets, securities lending is a basic trading mechanism in the stock market, which has been proved to have the function of stabilizing stock price fluctuations and improving pricing efficiency.

In the spot market, investors can sell overvalued stocks through short selling to obtain the valuation price difference, so as to restrain the excessive rise of stock price; when the stock value returns or panic falls, the corresponding operation of buying and returning bonds will increase the purchase at this time point, reduce the decline of stock price and reduce the volatility. The short selling also improves the phenomenon of unilateral market asymmetry and improves the pricing efficiency of the market.

From the perspective of practical operation, when the funds, especially the large and long-term funds of institutions, allocate assets, they attach great importance to the demand for hedging. Among them, securities lending can be used for spot hedging, and it is also a key element in derivatives hedging, such as repairing the long-term negative basis of similar stock index futures, indirectly providing better conditions for all kinds of funds to increase the allocation of equity assets.

The pilot of A-share margin trading started in March 2010.After nearly 10 years of development, the current characteristics of the two financial services are also relatively distinct. Generally speaking, the financing business of A-share financing is more developed and stable, and the financing transaction volume and scale keep the same direction with the market. The securities lending business develops slowly, and the balance of securities lending is significantly lower than that of financing for a long time. In addition, from the perspective of transaction user structure, individual investors account for a larger proportion, but institutional investors have seen rapid growth in recent years.

In the past ten years, Liu Shuo has personally experienced all kinds of "Misreading" of margin trading in the market.

"When refinancing was launched in 2013, institutions would go to the shareholders of listed companies to borrow securities. But shareholders will subconsciously think, ‘why do you want to lend it to you? Do you short my stock? According to Liu Shuo, it’s not that investors don’t understand how to apply margin trading to strategies, but the extreme lack of securities sources and inflexible trading mechanism restrict the development of margin trading.

An important turning point for the development of margin trading, which appeared in 2019, is a change of market cognition and investment strategy triggered by institutional innovation.

According to the business implementation rules of refinancing and refinancing on science and technology innovation board, eligible institutional investors and strategic investors such as public funds, social security funds and insurance funds are allowed to act as lenders, which makes the supply of securities sources for refinancing significantly expanded. In particular, there is a corresponding lock-in period for the stocks held by war investment, but it is allowed to lend refinancing securities. Scientific and technological innovation board strategic investors have strong willingness to lend, and become a sufficient and stable supply of securities. On the other hand, the efficiency of securities lending and trading has been greatly improved. In the lending and refinancing transactions of refinancing securities on the science and technology innovation board, the time limit rate negotiated by both sides of the lending was realized for the first time, as well as the matching and transaction of the day of refinancing and the day of refinancing.

"With the substantial increase of securities sources, the implementation possibility of more strategies such as long and empty will be improved; with the improvement of efficiency, the effectiveness of strategies will be further improved. For example, when the trading signal appears, the securities can be obtained through refinancing in science and technology innovation board, but in other sectors, it takes T + 1 days for the securities source to be in place, and the trading opportunity has long changed. This has a direct impact on costs and investment returns. "Liu Shuo said.

She also said that a series of innovative systems showed that the regulation took the two financing, especially securities lending, as an important part of the reform of the securities market system. This not only expands the space of securities lending business, but also creates favorable conditions for the valuation of A-share market, the improvement of pricing efficiency and the healthy development of long space balance. At present, the proportion of margin trading and financing in the science and technology innovation board market is basically maintained at 1:2, which is more balanced than the main board." The traditional one-way long investment will be replaced by a more robust and effective long short investment concept."

Delicacy and specialization of securities companies’ competition

In the spring of business, however, it puts forward the challenge of keeping up with the high level for the practitioners. The two financing business planning will further test the management level and comprehensive strength of securities companies.

"The change of regulatory policy is in line with the market and business development trend. Whether the institutions and investors have enough experience, and whether the market cognition is mature enough are all influencing factors. One of the simplest comparative cases is that when Changjiu bio chemical Co., Ltd. broke into two positions, the market reaction was extremely strong. Some investors don’t understand why the subject matter announced by the regulatory authorities will encounter a short position. But up to now, in the face of the closing event brought by market fluctuation, investors have been able to see and cause the bottom rationally. "Liu Shuo said that when the market, regulatory and other environments are more mature, it is an inevitable trend to give more flexible and independent adjustment space to securities companies.

Last year, the system adjustment related to the two financial businesses also brought obvious changes to the business management of securities companies.

With the expansion of the two financing targets, securities companies are given more options, but they need to take the initiative to prevent and control risks. The minimum maintenance guarantee proportion shall not be less than 130% of the unified limit, which is cancelled by the supervision, and more independent space shall be given to the securities companies in terms of collateral identification and other aspects. After the system changes, securities companies can establish differentiated customer management standards, put forward different risk control requirements for different customers, and avoid one size fits all. In practice, this requires securities companies to have a deeper understanding of customers’ repayment ability and collateral quality. The management of the two financing businesses is more professional and the ability of securities companies is higher.

This kind of test has come in last year’s two financial transactions of science and technology innovation board. Under the registration system, there are great changes in the trading system, such as listing audit, issuing pricing, new shares rising and falling. At present, the models and parameters of the two financial risk control are quite different. The wealth of underlying securities and the expansion of collateral all pose challenges to the risk control of securities companies.

In Liu Shuo’s view, refinement is an important factor in future business competition. For example, how to determine the final target range and the corresponding margin ratio will become a major focus of securities business management. Behind this kind of requirement, it actually reflects the research ability, system architecture and comprehensive business strength of securities companies.

Liu Shuo stressed that the credit business chain of securities companies is long, involving front, middle, back and other levels, testing the comprehensive ability of securities companies. The development of credit business needs comprehensive consideration of scale and risk. It is not that the larger the business scale is, the better the development will be. Scale is not the only assessment index for business development, and asset quality is the more important aspect for each institution.

"At present, the market environment and policy supervision are more conducive to the development of business, and give more independent authority to securities companies. It is hoped that in the new year, more investors will see margin trading as an important tool for risk management, and the continuous improvement of risk management tools will also help funds better allocate assets in the A-share market. "She said.

融券交易新时代：与融资“齐头并进”，量化对冲机构是主力

从“做空凶手”到对冲工具，融券迎来了发展新契机。

2020年，A股融资融券业务试点将迎来第十个年头。就在2019年，设立科创板并试点注册制的改革中，对两融制度做了多处突破；包括扩大券源、推出效率更高的转融券约定申报方式、明确市场化确定费率和期限。同时，沪深交易所还扩大了两融标的等。

“早些时候，部分投资者总把融券视为做空的工具和‘下跌凶手’。而这一年多，很多机构开始将融券用于对冲和风险控制，纳入量化模型。制度的创新，带动市场认知和投资策略更趋成熟。两融业务进入了新的新阶段。”华创证券总裁助理兼信用交易部总经理刘硕从两融试点开始就从事这项业务。市场与行业的诸多变化让她相信，未来融资与融券交易会发展得更加均衡，融券客户与策略类型也会更加多元。

两融尤其是融券业务的变化，也在影响着投资与市场。刘硕预计，单方向做多的传统投资方式，将被更为稳健有效的多空投资理念取代。未来，量化投资机构会成为融券市场的主力，转融券会成为最主要的券源。这也意味着，经过十年的磨合发展，融券业务生态也正在从单一、零散，加速向整合与共生发展。

制度创新推动融券发展

在科创板改革推进中，融券交易迎来较大的制度创新。最为直接的影响是，科创板个股的融券规模占两融余额比例更高，与融资交易的比重更均衡。但在刘硕看来，数字变化背后对A股的影响还远不止于此。

从境外成熟市场的经验来看，融券业务是股票市场的一项基本交易机制，已被证明具备平抑股价波动，提高定价效率的作用。

就现货市场来看，投资者可以通过融券交易卖出高估值股票获取估值价差，从而抑制股价的过度上涨；而当股票价值回归或者出现恐慌下跌时，对应的买券还券操作，还会在该时点增加买入，减缓股价下跌降低波动。而融券交易还改善了单边市场不对称的现象，提高市场的定价效率。

从实际操作来看，在资金尤其是机构的大额、长线资金在配置资产时，很重视对冲的需求。这其中，融券既可以用于现货的对冲，在衍生品对冲中也是很关键的要素，比如对类似股指期货长期负基差等现象进行修复，间接为各类资金加大权益资产配置提供更好的条件。

A股的融资融券业务试点，起步于2010年3月。经过近10年的发展，当前两融业务的特点也较为鲜明。总的来看，A股两融中的融资业务发展更充分、稳定，融资交易量与规模与市场行情保持着同向变化。融券业务相对发展缓慢，融券余额余额长期大幅低于融资余额。此外，从两融的交易用户结构来看，个人投资者占比更较大，但机构投资者在近几年出现了较快增长。

从业近十年来，刘硕亲历市场对融券交易的各种“误读”。

“2013年推出转融券的时候，机构会去向上市公司股东去借券。但股东都会下意识地去想，‘为什么要借给你，你难道做空我的股票吗？’”在刘硕看来，并非投资者不懂融券如何运用到策略中来，但券源极度缺乏、交易机制不灵活等，都限制了融券的发展。

融券交易重要的发展拐点，出现在2019年，是一场由制度创新引发的市场认知和投资策略的变革。

根据科创板转融通和转融券的业务实施细则，允许符合条件的公募基金、社保基金、保险资金等机构投资者和战略投资者作为出借人，这让融券券源供给实现明显扩充。特别是针对战投所持股票设置有相应锁定期，但允许其进行转融通证券出借。科创板战略投资者具有较强的出借意愿，成为充足而稳定的券源供给。另一方面，融券的出借与交易效率也有极大的提升。在科创板转融通证券出借及转融券交易中，首次实现了出借双方协商期限费率，以及转融券当日撮合成交、当日就可融券。

“券源的大幅增加，让多空等更多策略执行可能性提升；效率的提升，则进一步提高了策略的有效性。打个比方，同样跑一款融券策略，当交易信号出现时，在科创板可以即时通过转融通拿到券，但在其他板块券源需要T+1日才能到位，交易机会早就变化了。这直接影响到成本和投资收益。”刘硕称。

她更表示，一系列创新制度表明，监管将两融尤其是融券作为证券市场制度改革的重要环节。这不仅扩展了融券业务空间，也为A股市场估值、定价效率提升以及多空平衡健康发展创造了有利条件。目前，科创板市场融券与融资的比例基本维持在1:2，相较主板也更为均衡。“单方向做多的传统投资方式，将被更为稳健有效的多空投资理念取代。”

券商比拼精细化与专业度

业务的春天，却对从业机构提出跟高的挑战。两融业务规划，更加考验券商的管理水平和综合实力。

“监管政策的变化，是顺应市场和业务发展趋势的。从业机构、投资人是否有足够的经验，市场认知是否足够成熟，都是影响因素。一个最简单的对比案例，最初昌九生化两融爆仓时，市场反应极为强烈。有投资者不理解，为什么监管公布的标的还会遭遇爆仓。但发展至今，面对行情波动带来的平仓事件，投资者已经能够很理性地看待和因谷底。”刘硕表示，当市场、监管等环境更为成熟，给与券商更多灵活自主的自主调节空间是必然趋势。

去年，两融业务相关的制度调整，对券商业务管理也带来明显的变化。

伴随两融标的的扩容，给予券商更多的标的选择，但更需要主动做好风险的防控。监管取消最低维持担保比例不得低于130%的统一限制，在担保品认定等方面给予券商更大的自主空间。制度变化后，券商可以建立差异化的客户管理标准，针对不同客户提出不同的风控要求，避免了一刀切。在在实际中，这要求券商对客户的还款能力以及担保物质量有更深的了解，两融业务的管理更加专业，对券商的能力要求更高。

在去年科创板的两融交易中，这种考验已经到来。注册制下，上市审核、发行定价、新股上涨跌幅等交易制度都较以往有很大的变化。目前，各家两融风险控制的模型和参数有很大不同。标的券的丰富、担保物的扩容，这些都对券商的风控提出了挑战。

在刘硕看来，精细化是未来业务比拼的重要因素。比如，如何确定最终的标的范围和对应的保证金比例，将成为券商业务管理的一大重点。这种要求背后，其实体现的是券商的研究能力、系统架构、综合业务实力。

刘硕更强调，券商信用业务链条长，涉及前、中、后台等多个层面，考验券商综合能力。信用业务发展需综合考虑规模与风险，并不是业务规模越大就代表发展越好，规模不是业务发展的唯一考核指标，资产质量才是各家机构更应重视的方面。

“目前，市场环境和政策监管都更有利于业务的发展，并且给予券商更多的自主权限。希望新一年里，能看到更多投资者将融券作为风险管理的重要工具；而风险管理工具的不断完善，也将帮助资金更好地进行A股市场的资产配置。”她说。