Sharegain Data Reveals Retail Investors Unlocking 50%+ Yields via Securities Lending

Sharegain has released new market data demonstrating that the rapid adoption of retail securities lending is fundamentally altering income generation for everyday investors. By democratising access to a multi-million-dollar revenue stream previously restricted to institutional players, fintechs and banks are enabling retail portfolios to capture significant yields from market volatility and high-demand growth stocks.

What was announced

The announcement highlights a significant shift in the securities lending landscape, where a wave of online brokers and banks have integrated lending programmes to benefit retail clients. This move addresses a long-standing market asymmetry, allowing individual investors to monetise their holdings by lending them to borrowers, such as hedge funds or market makers, in exchange for fees.

Data from Sharegain’s securities lending pool, covering the period from 1 January 2026 to the present, reveals that retail investors holding specific high-demand assets have captured annualised yields exceeding 50%. The demand is particularly concentrated in AI infrastructure, renewable chemistry, and medical technology sectors. Notable performance figures from the lending pool include:

• Median Technologies (France | ALMDT): Borrowers paid an additional 168% on top of share price performance to borrow this AI medical imaging software stock.
• 2CRSi (France | AL2SI): This AI server and cloud hardware provider saw borrowers pay an additional 81% on top of share price performance.
• Avantium (Netherlands | AVTX): Investors in this bio-based materials firm captured an additional 14% on top of share price performance.

While liquid, large-cap stocks typically generate modest fees, the report suggests that volatile growth stocks and small caps - often staples of retail portfolios - are now acting as growth engines that can outperform traditional dividend-bearing equities in certain market conditions.

"The widespread launch of retail securities lending programmes has corrected a decades-long market asymmetry. Retail investors are no longer just absorbing volatility; they are also monetising it. By opening access to securities lending, brokers have turned idle retail portfolios into growth engines that, given the demand, can outperform traditional dividend stocks in certain markets."

Sharegain

The companies involved

Sharegain is a global leader in securities lending technology, specifically focused on providing the infrastructure for retail-facing financial institutions. The firm enables banks, online brokers, and wealth managers to offer securities lending to their end-users, a service that was historically the exclusive domain of large asset managers and pension funds. By automating the complex regulatory and operational requirements of lending, Sharegain allows these institutions to unlock new revenue streams for their clients.

The market data also references several European-listed companies currently seeing high borrow demand. 2CRSi is a French company specialising in high-performance AI servers and cloud hardware. Median Technologies, also based in France, focuses on AI-driven medical imaging software to improve clinical trials and patient care. Avantium, headquartered in the Netherlands, is a pioneer in the renewable chemistry sector, developing bio-based materials to replace petroleum-based plastics. These firms represent the type of high-growth, innovation-led stocks that currently drive the highest demand in the securities lending market.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked Sharegain’s expansion and its efforts to institutionalise retail securities lending. In early 2026, we reported on the company’s leadership expansion in Sharegain Names Ronny Maate CPO and Promotes Ben Smith to CAIO, Setting the AI-Native Standard for Retail-Ready Securities Lending. This followed the strategic appointment of Nicholas Hay as Global Head of Demand Coverage in late 2025. We also covered the launch of critical infrastructure tools, including the “Opt-In Hub”, designed to streamline adoption for financial institutions, and the firm’s unique offering for prime brokers introduced in mid-2025.

What this means

This data marks a turning point for the retail brokerage model. For years, retail investors were the "passive" side of the trade, holding assets while institutional short-sellers profited from their price movements. By enabling retail lending, Sharegain is effectively arming the retail investor with the same tools used by sophisticated hedge funds. This puts pressure on traditional brokers who do not offer these programmes, as they are essentially leaving client money on the table. The next phase to watch is how regulators respond to the mass-market adoption of these complex products and whether the high yields seen in AI and tech stocks remain sustainable as more retail supply enters the lending market.