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ICICI Prudential Life Insurance with Edelweiss Securities today executed one of the first ever trade in the insurance sector based on the Securities Lending and Borrowing Scheme (SLBS).
Securities Lending and Borrowing (SLB) is a scheme that has been launched to enable settlement of securities sold short.
SLB enables lending of idle securities by the investors through the clearing corporation/clearing house of stock exchanges to earn a return through the same. Eligible securities are F&O stock and other 45 Non F&O stocks.
The tenure for SLB transactions is up to 12 months. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) had recent;y brought out a circular allowing life insurance companies to participate in the SLBS scheme.
Puneet Nanda, Executive Director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said, "We are delighted to be a part of the first ever Securities Lending and Borrowing Scheme trade executed by an insurance company in India, on the NSE. Life insurance companies are long-term investors and the new Irda regulation has opened up an avenue to generate additional yield. This, we believe, will enable us to provide even better risk adjusted returns to our policyholders."
Adding to this, Vikas Khemani, CEO – Wholesale Capital Markets, Edelweiss Group said that for SLBS to take off in India, it needed the participation of large institutional players like the insurance companies.
