IB Stock Yield Enhancement Program
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Stock Yield Enhancement Program offers participants the opportunity to earn additional income on their full-paid shares by lending those shares to IB in exchange for a portion of the fees short sellers are willing to pay to borrow them. Upon enrollment, Program activities are managed in their entirety by IB and require no actions on the part of participants. These activities include management is automatic and IB will administer all activities on participants behalf, including the following:
- Identifying the shares in client accounts which borrowers are attempting to locate;
- Establishment of loans and returns;
- Crediting of loan fee income (expressed as an interest accrual for activity statement reporting purposes); and
- Reporting of loan activity, cash collateral transfers and income on the activity statements;
In contrast to the securities lending programs offered by others, IB provides complete transparency as to the market rate and gross fees earned from each transaction which will be split equally between the client and IB.
HOW IT WORKS
- Clients may enroll in the Program by logging into Account Management and selecting the Trading Access and then Trading Configuration menu options and then checking the box marked Stock Yield Enhancement Program. Activation generally takes place overnight. Eligible accounts include any IB LLC or IB UK margin accounts and IB LLC or IB UK cash accounts with equity in excess of USD 50,000.
- Once activated, IB will review on a daily basis the inventory of eligible shares held by the participant vis-a-vis that which is necessary to satisfy internal and external borrow demand. If the supply of eligible shares exceeds borrow demand, clients will be allocated loans on a pro rata basis (e.g. if aggregate supply is 20,000 shares and aggregate demand 10,000, each client will be eligible to have 50% of their shares loaned).
- At the end of each day that any loan is in place, the client will receive a payment presented as an interest accrual which is credited to equity and which represents 1/2 of gross lending fee charged to the end borrower. The remaining 1/2 accrues to IB as compensation for managing the loan. The details regarding the transaction, including the quantity of shares loaned, collateral amount, market fee rate, gross fee, IB management charge and net fee are reflected on the daily activity statement.
- Clients maintain full control of loaned shares with no impairment as to:
* Market exposure ( i.e., will continue to recognize profit or loss consistent with stock price move);
* The ability to sell at any time without prior notice;
* Hedges (e.g., covered calls, protective puts);
* The representation of holdings in statements and the trading platform; and
* Cost basis
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
- Loaned shares may not be protected by SIPC, however, the cash collateral received for the loaned securities is segregated within the 15c3-3 Reserve Account and therefore subject to the same investment restrictions;
- The market fee rate for any given loan is subject to supply and demand considerations that are outside the control of IB and which are susceptible to change from one day to another without advance notice or limit as to the magnitude of change. The net fee income available to participants will reflect such changes;
- Proxy voting rights on loaned shares are forfeited (rights go to borrower);
- Participants will not receive actual dividends on loaned shares but instead a cash payment equivalent to the full dividend to be paid on the same date as the dividend (referred to as a 'Payment in Lieu'). As a Payment in Lieu is treated differently than a dividend for U.S. tax reporting purposes, certain taxpayers may not receive the more favorable tax treatment afforded to dividend payments deemed 'qualified';
- Loaned shares are typically used to facilitate short sales and such transactions may affect the value of shares.
For additional FAQs relating to the Yield Enhancement Program, click here.
Stock Yield Enhancement Program FAQs
What is the purpose of the Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
The Stock Yield Enhancement program provides customers with the opportunity to earn additional income on securities positions which would otherwise be segregated (i.e., fully-paid and excess margin securities) by permitting IB to lend out those securities to third parties. Customers who participate in the program will receive a portion of the fee paid by the borrower as loan compensation for any day the loan exists and will receive cash collateral to secure the return of the stock loan at its termination.
What are fully-paid and excess margin securities?
Fully-paid securities are securities in a customer’s account that have been completely paid for. Excess margin securities are securities that have not been completely paid for, but whose market value exceeds 140% of the customer’s margin debit balance.
How is the income received by a customer on any given Stock Yield Enhancement Program loan transaction determined?
The income which a customer receives in exchange for shares lent depend upon loan rates established in the over-the-counter securities lending market. These rates can vary significantly not only by the particular security loaned but also by the loan date. In addition, IB assesses a Management Fee equal to 50% of the net loan fees paid in exchange for initiating, terminating and managing transactions. In determining the customer’s portion of these fees, the Market Fee Rate % is applied to the loan collateral and this daily Gross Lending Fee is split equally between IB and the customer. For example, assume loan collateral of $10,000 and an annualized Market Fee Rate of 15%. In this example the daily Gross Lending Fee would be $4.16 (($10,000 *.15)/360), of which $2.08 would accrue to the customer and $2.08 to IB as its Management Fee. Lending fees are calculated and accrued daily similar to interest credits.
How is the amount of cash collateral for a given loan determined?
The cash collateral underlying the security loan and used for determining interest payments is determined using standard industry convention whereby the closing price of the stock is multiplied by 102% and then rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. For example, a loan of 100 shares of a stock which closes at $59.24 would be equal to $6,100 ($59.24 * 1.02 = $60.4248; round to $61, multiply by 100).
What are the eligibility requirements for participation in the IB Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
All IB LLC and IB UK margin accounts or IB LLC and IB UK cash accounts with equity over $50,000 at the time of application are eligible. IB Canada, IB Japan and IB India customers are not eligible. Japanese and Indian clients maintaining accounts with IB LLC are eligible.
In addition, Financial Advisor client accounts, fully disclosed IBroker clients, non-disclosed IBroker clients and Omnibus Brokers who meet the above requirements can participate. In the case of Financial Advisors and fully disclosed IBrokers, the clients themselves must sign the agreements. For non-disclosed IBroker and Omnibus Brokers, the broker signs the agreement.
Are IRA accounts eligible to participate in the Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
No.
How do I enroll in the IB Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
Clients who are eligible and who wish to enroll in the Stock Yield Enhancement Program may do so by selecting Trading Access and then Trading Configuration from Account Management and then checking the box on the Trading Permissions matrix titled "United States (Stock Yield Enhancement Program)".
What happens if equity in a participating cash account falls below the $50,000 qualifying threshold?
The cash account must meet this minimum equity requirement solely at the point of signing up for the program. If the equity falls below that level thereafter there is no impact upon existing loans or the ability to initiate new loans.
What is the difference between AQS and the IB Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
Clients lending through AQS participants self-direct their activity based upon information provided via AQS’ automated centralized market. In contrast, loans transacted through the Stock Yield Enhancement Program are determined and managed by IB.
Can I participate in both AQS and the IB Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
Clients can only lend in one program at a time. If, for example, a client signs up for the Yield program and is already approved for AQS lending, we will disable their ability to lend at AQS and recall their loans. They will still, however, retain the ability to borrow through AQS and can see market data. If the client disables the Yield Enhancement Program, their AQS loan permissions will be re-enabled. In sum, the yield program always takes precedence.
If my account is eligible for AQS am I automatically eligible to participate in the IB Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
No.
If my account is eligible for the IB Stock Yield Enhancement Program am I automatically eligible to participate in AQS?
No.
How does one terminate Stock Yield Enhancement Program participation?
Clients who wish to terminate participation in the Stock Yield Enhancement Program may do so by selecting Trading Access and then Trading Configuration from Account Management and then removing the check from the box on the Trading Permissions matrix titled "United States (Stock Yield Enhancement Program)".
Requests to terminate are typically processed at the end of the day.
What types of securities positions are eligible to be lent?
Eligible securities include U.S. common stocks (exchange listed, PINK and OTCBB), ETFs, preferred stocks and corporate bonds. Municipal bonds and non-U.S. securities are not eligible.
Is there any restriction on lending stocks which are trading in the secondary market following an IPO?
No, as long as IB is not part of the selling group.
How does IB determine the amount of shares which are eligible to be loaned?
The first step is to determine the value of securities, if any, which IB maintains a margin lien upon and can lend without client participation in the Stock Yield Enhancement Program. A broker who finances client purchases of securities via margin loan is allowed by regulation to loan or pledge as collateral that client’s securities in an amount up to 140% of the cash debit balance. For example, if a client maintaining a cash balance of $50,000 buys securities having a market value of $100,000, the debit or loan balance will be $50,000 and the broker holds a lien on 140% of that balance or $70,000 of securities. Any securities held by the client in excess of that amount are referred to as excess margin securities ($30,000 in this example) and are required to be segregated unless the client provides IB the authorization to lend through the Stock Yield Enhancement Program.
The debit balance is determined by first converting all non-USD denominated cash balances to USD and then backing out any short stock sale proceeds (converted to USD as necessary). If the result is negative then we free up 140% of that negative number. In addition, cash balances maintained in the commodities segment or for spot metals and CFDs are not considered.
EXAMPLE 1: Customer is long EUR 100,000 in a USD Base Currency account with a EUR.USD rate of 1.40. Customer purchases USD denominated stock valued at $112,000 (EUR 80,000 equivalent). All securities are deemed fully-paid as cash balance as converted to USD is a credit.
| Component | EUR | USD | Base (USD) |
| Cash | 100,000 | (112,000) | $28,000 |
| Long Stock | $112,000 | $112,000 | |
| NLV | $140,000 |
EXAMPLE 2: Customer holds long USD of 80,000, long USD denominated stock of $100,000 and short USD denominated stock of $100,000. Long securities totaling $28,000 are deemed margin securities and the remainder of $72,000 excess margin securities. This is determined by subtracting the short stock proceeds from the cash balance ($80,000 - $100,000) and multiplying the resultant debit by 140% ($20,000 * 1.4 = $28,000)
| Component | Base (USD) |
| Cash | $80,000 |
| Long Stock | $100,000 |
| Short Stock | ($100,000) |
| NLV | $80,000 |
Will IB lend out all eligible shares?
There is no guarantee that all eligible shares in a given account will be loaned through the Stock Yield Enhancement Program as there may not be a market at an advantageous rate for certain securities, IB may not have access to a market with willing borrowers or IB may not want to loan your shares.
Are Stock Yield Enhancement Program loans made only in increments of 100 (similar to AQS)?
No. Loans can be made in any whole share amount although externally we only lend in multiples of 100 shares. Thus the possibility exists that we would lend 75 shares from one client and 25 from another should there be external demand to borrow 100 shares.
How are loans allocated among clients when the supply of shares available to lend exceeds the borrow demand?
In the event that the demand for borrowing a given security is less than the supply of shares available to lend from participants in our Yield Enhancement Program, loans will be allocated on a pro rata basis (e.g. if aggregate supply is 20,000 and demand is 10,000, each client will be eligible to have 50% of his/her shares lent)
Are shares loaned only to other IB clients or to other third parties?
Shares may be loaned to any counterparty and is not limited solely to other IB clients.
Can the Stock Yield Enhancement Program participant determine which shares IB can lend?
No. The program is entirely managed by IB who, after determining those securities, if any, which IB is authorized to lend by virtue of a margin loan lien, has the discretion to determine whether any of the fully-paid or excess margin securities can be loaned out and to initiate the loans.
Are there any restrictions placed upon the sale of securities which have been lent through the Stock Yield Enhancement Program?
Loaned shares may be sold at any time, without restriction. The shares do not need to be returned in time to settle your sale of the share and proceeds from the sale are credited to the client’s account on the normal settlement date. In addition, the loan will be terminated on the open of the business day following the security sale date.
Can a client write covered calls against stock which has been loaned out through the Stock Yield Enhancement Program and receive the covered call margin treatment?
Yes. A loan of stock has no impact upon its margin requirement on an uncovered or hedged basis since the lender retains exposure to any gains or losses associated with the loaned position.
What happens to stock which is the subject of a loan and which is subsequently delivered against a call assignment or put exercise?
The loan will be terminated on T+1 of the action (trade, assignment, exercise) which closed or decreased the position.
What happens to stock which is the subject of a loan and which is subsequently halted from trading?
A halt has no direct impact upon the ability to lend the stock and as long as IB can continue to loan the stock, such loan will remain in place regardless of whether the stock is halted.
Can the cash collateral from a loan be swept to the commodities segment to cover margin and/or variation?
No. The cash collateral securing the loan never impacts margin or financing.
What happens if a program participant initiates a margin loan or increases an existing loan balance?
If a client maintains fully-paid securities which have been loaned through the Stock Yield Enhancement Program and subsequently initiates a margin loan, the loan will be terminated to the extent that the securities do not qualify as excess margin securities. Similarly, if a client maintaining excess margin securities which have been loaned through the program increases the existing margin loan, the loan may again be terminated to the extent that the securities no longer qualify as excess margin securities.
Under what circumstances will a given stock loan be terminated?
In the event of any of the following, a stock loan will be automatically terminated:
- If the client elects to terminate program participation
- Transfer of shares
- Borrowing of a certain amount against the shares
- Sale of shares
- Call assignment/put exercise
- Account closure
Do participants in the Stock Yield Enhancement Program receive dividends on shares loaned?
While the lender of the securities is entitled to receive the amount of all dividends and distributions made on loaned securities, they may receive cash payments, commonly referred to PILs, in lieu of dividends. Depending upon ones holding period for the shares loaned, the receipt of a PIL may have an adverse tax impact for certain U.S. taxpayers as such payments are taxed as ordinary income rather than at the reduced rate associated with qualified dividends. IB will attempt to mitigate the payment of PILs by recalling shares prior to a dividend, however, IB cannot guarantee that the borrower will be able to return the shares within the necessary time frame to avoid PIL treatment.
Do participants in the Stock Yield Enhancement Program retain voting rights for shares loaned?
No. the borrower of the securities has the right to vote or provide any consent with respect to the securities if the Record Date or deadline for voting, providing consent or taking other action falls within the loan term.
How are loans reflected on the activity statement?
Loan collateral, shares outstanding, activity and income is reflected in the following 6 statement sections:
1. Cash Detail – details starting cash collateral balance, net change resulting from loan activity (positive if new loans initiated; negative if net returns) and ending cash collateral balance.
2. Net Stock Position Summary – for each stock details total Shares at IB, the number of Shares Borrowed, the number of Shares Lent (through AQS or the Stock Yield Enhancement Program) and the Net Shares (=Shares at IB + Shares Borrowed - Shares Lent). 
3. IB Managed Securities Lent – lists for each stock loaned through AQS or the Stock Yield Enhancement Program the Quantity of shares loaned, the Net Fee Rate (%) and the Collateral Amount. 
4. IB Managed Securities Lent Activity – details the loan activity for each security including Loan Return Allocations (i.e., terminated loans); New Loan Allocations (i.e., initiated loans); the share Quantity; the Net Fee Rate (%) and the Collateral Amount. 
5. IB Managed Securities Lent Activity Fee Details – details on an individual loan basis the Market Fee Rate (%); the Gross Lend Fee (represents the total fee charged to the borrower which is equal to {Collateral Amount * Market Fee Rate}/360); the IB Management Charge (equals 50% of the Gross Lend Fee); the Net Lend Fee Rate (represents the half of the Market Fee Rate which the client earns) and the Net Lend Fee (represents the client’s portion of the fee income. Equals the Gross Lend Fee - IB Management Charge).
Note: This section will only be displayed if the Net Lend Fee accrual exceeds USD 1 for the statement period. 
6. Interest Accruals – the loan fee income is accounted for here as an interest accrual and is treated as any other interest accrual (aggregated but only displayed as an accrual when exceeding $1 and posted to cash monthly). For year-end reporting purposes, this fee income will be reported as miscellaneous income on the Form 1099 issued to U.S. taxpayers.
India Intra-Day Shorting Risk Disclosure
Interactive Brokers currently offers the ability to short sell stocks before taking delivery on an intra-day basis. In accordance with IB’s intra-day shorting rules, traders are required to deliver shares sold or close short stock positions prior to the end of the trading session.
Should traders establish a short stock position intra-day and still hold the position ten minutes prior to the end of the trading session at 15:20 IST, Interactive Brokers may, on a best efforts basis, close the position on your behalf. If the position is not closed by the end of the day and the shares are not delivered by the customer before settlement, the loss on account of auction will be borne by the customer. Please note that prices in the auction market are highly variable and typically not favorable compared to the normal market.
It is important to note, IB will not take into consideration any closing orders for short stock positions placed by the customer which may still be working. If your account holds a short position ten minutes prior to the end of the trading session and you have placed working orders to close those positions, there is the possibility your closing order will execute and that IB will act to close out your short position. In this situation you will be responsible for both executions and will need to manage your long position accordingly.
A fee of INR 1,500 will be charged for this manual processing in addition to any external penalties in the case of short stock positions resulting in auction trades. As such, we strongly urge customers to monitor their positions and take appropriate action themselves in order to avoid this.
When I short a stock, when will the hard to borrow interest begin accruing?
Overview:
Many shorted stocks will have a hard to borrow interest fee associated with them.
The hard to borrow interest will begin being charged on a short stock position on the settlement date. When the position is closed, the interest fees will be assessed until the settlement date of the closing transaction. For example, you sell XYZ on Monday, and you close the position on Tuesday. The interest fee would not be charged until Thursday, and your account would only be charged for one day of hard to borrow fees.
Why do I receive a notice of a potential buy-in of my short position when your Short Stock Availability List is showing shares available to borrow?
As background, the short stock availability list represents represents the inventory of shares which IB has available to lend and which other brokers have indicated that they have available to lend. While it is updated on a near real-time basis throughout the day for changes to IB's inventory and periodically throughout the day to reflect updates to the availability lists of other brokers, many brokers provide updates only once per day.
It should be noted that the purpose of the short stock availability list is to meet the broker's regulatory obligation that they have made a reasonable determination that a security can be borrowed in time for settlement three business days later. There is no regulatory requirement, in most instances, that the broker pre-borrow shares to effect delivery on a short sale prior to settlement and the requirement which this list serves to address is completely separate from the SEC rules which require that the broker force-close any short position having a delivery obligation subject to fail with the clearinghouse on any given day.
It is these rules which we are adhering to when we review your short positions relative to our settlement obligations with the clearinghouse each day. While the shares necessary to cover your short sale may have been available as of the date your trade took place and subsequently thereafter, there can be no assurance that those shares can be borrowed indefinitely. The inventory of available shares to borrow is dynamic and subject to change throughout a given day. When we believe that there is a reasonable chance that we will not be able to maintain your borrow position on a particular day, we will make every effort to provide you with a notice of those short positions which are likely to be bought in absent preemptive action on your part.
Overview of Regulation SHO
Regulation SHO, adopted by the SEC in January 2005, sets forth the regulatory framework governing short sales. Two key provisions, intended to address problems associated with persistent fails to deliver and potentially abusive naked short selling, involve locate and close-out requirements.
Under the locate requirement, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds to believe that the security can be borrowed so that it can be delivered on the delivery due date before effecting a short sale order.
The close-out requirement requires that the clearing broker take immediate action to close out a fail to deliver position in a threshold security that has persisted for 13 consecutive settlement days by purchasing securities of like kind and quantity. Until the position is closed out, the broker may not effect further short sales in that threshold security without borrowing or entering into a bona fide agreement to borrow the security (known as the "pre-borrowing" requirement)
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In October 2008, the SEC amended Regulation SHO with temporary Rule 204T (in place until July 31, 2009) which requires that any broker having a fail to deliver position at NSCC on the settlement date immediately borrow or purchase securities to close out the amount of the fail to deliver position by no later than the beginning of regular trading hours on the following settlement date (the “Close-Out Date”). This close-out requirement requires that the broker take affirmative action to purchase or borrow securities and not offset the fail to deliver position with shares it will receive on the Close-Out Date. Rule 204T applies to all securities not just threshold securities.
Glossary terms:
I have an open order to sell short stock that should have been executed, but it is still on my TWS and not being filled.
Overview:
When traders attempt to sell short a stock which IB does not currently have in inventory to loan them, IB will look for these shares “on the street”, which means from other brokerage firms. This search is conducted on a best-efforts only basis. While IB searches for the shares, the order status box on the TWS Order Management page should be dark green, and will show a small icon of a pair of binoculars, which indicates we are searching. In the WebTrader, there are no status colors or icons. The order will simply not execute as IB searches for the shares on the street.
How do I sell a stock short?
Procedurally, to sell short, all you need to do is specify your order Action as 'Sell' at the point you create your order. Note that we do not allow you to be both long and short the same security, so if you maintain a long position and enter a sell order, you will close out any long positions to the extent of your sell order and open a short position to the extent, if any, your sell order exceeds a long position.
Also note, that in addition to your account having sufficient equity to meet the margin requirement associated with the transaction, IB is required to meet its regulatory obligation of making a reasonable determination that we can locate the stock for borrowing purposes when the transaction settles (typically T+3). If we are unable to locate the stock based upon our inventory and the availability lists provided to us by other brokers, you will see an Order Status color in the TWS Shortable column of dark green. This indicates that there are no shares available to sell at the moment and that the system is searching for shares. The order will remain in this status until the we are able to locate the shares or the time which you specify for your order to remain in force expires, whichever occurs first. You may wish to review the Shortable Stocks link to our website below which provides a listing of stocks available for shorting. A list of shortable stocks searchable by symbol or CUSIP along with their indicative borrow rates may be found through the Short Stock Availability Tool accessible through the Tools link within Account Management.
Finally, you should be aware that one of the risks of borrowing stock to support your short sale is being bought in with little or no notice. Even though a reasonable determination that the shares can be borrowed will be made prior to effecting your sale transaction, there is no assurance that those shares will actually be available at the time of settlement or any day thereafter. The supply and demand of borrowable inventory for any given security is dynamic by nature and regulations require brokers to force-close any short position having a delivery obligation subject to fail with the clearinghouse on any given day. We will make every effort to provide you with advance notice if this appears to be the case in order to provide you with the opportunity to buy in your own position, however, this is done on a best-efforts basis.
Other risks to keep in mind are the special charges which tend to be associated with hard-to-borrow securities that, in aggregate may exceed any rebate or interest paid on the short stock proceeds, as well as your obligation to pay to the lender any dividends which are paid throughout the duration of the loan period.
Links:
My account was debited for a dividend payment (Payment in Lieu) for a short stock position which I don’t recognize. How did this occur?
Overview:
A short stock position may originate from an option position which you held in your account. For example, if you hold a long put position in your account, that position may be subject to automatic exercise by the clearinghouse if it is in-the-money by a defined threshold at expiration. This put exercise will generate a short stock position in your account (assuming you do not have an offsetting long position), and you are obligated to pay any dividends should you maintain a short stock position on the ex-dividend date.
Similarly, a short call position in your account is subject to assignment should a call purchaser elect to exercise their right to purchase the stock and your account be allocated through the random clearinghouse and broker assignment process. This call assignment will generate a short stock position in your account (assuming you do not have an offsetting long position), and you are obligated to pay any dividends should you maintain a short stock position on the ex-dividend date.
These payments will be reflected on your Activity Statement as a 'Payment In Lieu Of Dividend'.
