Northern Trust received a considerable increase in securities lending revenue in Q2, reporting $27.3 million for the quarter, up from $21.8 million from the same period last year.
According to the US bank, securities lending fees increased primarily due to higher spreads.
Q1 was previously marked Northern Trust's best quarter for securities lending revenue since Q1 2018 when it chalked up $26 million, with Q2 now taking the lead.
2020 so far is a return to form for the bank, which saw its securities lending revenue underperform mildly in 2019 in line with the overall market’s lacklustre performance compared to 2018’s bumper year.
Securities lending sits under Northern Trust’s Corporate and Institutional Services (C&IS) Trust, which offers asset servicing solutions to buy-side institutions.
In 2019, C&IS Trust, investment, and other services fees brought in $2.2 billion, of which securities lending earnings represented 4 percent ($87.2 million).
Elsewhere, the bank reports its second quarter net income of $313.3 million, a drop in earnings compared to the same period last year of $389.4 million.
Meanwhile, Northern Trust reported $12.1 trillion assets under custody and administration for Q2 2020 compared the $11.3 trillion in Q2 2019.
