What is the difference between SECL and SECB?

They describe the same loan from its two ends. The lender uses SECL on its delivery and on the return; the borrower uses SECB on its receipt and on the return.

Is a securities loan settled as SECL or as REPU?

As SECL (or SECB from the borrower). REPU and RVPO are for repos, where securities are sold for cash with an agreed buy-back. In a loan the securities are lent against separate collateral.

Which code goes on the collateral for a securities loan?

Collateral movements usually carry COLO from the giver (the borrower) and COLI from the taker (the lender), unless a triparty agent handles them.

Settlement transaction types

SECL: Securities Lending

Written and maintained by ZagTrader. Last reviewed 21 October 2026. How this page is sourced and checked

SECL marks a settlement instruction that belongs to a securities loan, sent from the lender’s side. The lender delivers the securities when the loan starts and receives them back when it ends, both under SECL.

Code: SECL

What SECL means

In securities lending a lender (a pension fund, insurer or investment fund, often through an agent lender) transfers securities to a borrower, who returns equivalent securities later and posts collateral meanwhile. The lender’s settlement instructions for the opening delivery and for the later return carry SECL. Clearstream’s Polish market guide, for example, asks for :22F::SETR//SECL or SECB on lending and borrowing instructions in sequence E.

The borrower’s side of the same loan is SECB. A loan is not a repo, although both are temporary transfers: in a loan the securities are what is wanted and the collateral is a separate flow (flagged COLO or COLI, or handled by a triparty agent), while in a repo the securities are the collateral for cash. When a lender moves a holding that is already on loan from one of its safekeeping accounts to another, the code is SLRE, not SECL.

Loans are recalled and returned, often in part, and a recall can be urgent because the lender may have sold the securities. Some custodians never apply automatic partial settlement to this type: BNY lists SECL, SECB, SLRE, SBRE, OWNI, TURN and the repo codes among the transactions it always instructs with NPAR.

When you see it

Loan start: an MT542 (free, when collateral moves separately) or MT543 (against cash collateral) from the lender with :22F::SETR//SECL.
Return or recall: an MT540 or MT541 receipt by the lender with SECL.
In Singapore, SECL is one of the codes accepted in the mandatory 22F field on equity instructions (LuxCSD notice of November 2014).

What to do next

Use SECL on every lender-side movement of the loan, opening and return, and COLI on the collateral you receive. Under EU CSDR, CSDs report settlement fails per type of transaction (purchase or sale, collateral management, securities lending and borrowing, repo, other), and custodians such as BNY pass the instructed SETR code to the CSD for that reporting. A financing or collateral movement sent as TRAD lands in the wrong bucket.
In T2S markets the transaction type is not one of the matching fields, so the code on your instruction does not stop it matching. Some markets do match on it: Clearstream states that for KDPW (Poland) the SETR indicator is a mandatory matching criterion. There, agree the code with your counterparty, or both instructions stay unmatched with reason SETR (see unmatched settlement instructions).
If an agent lender instructs on your behalf, check which code it sends, so that your loan book, the custodian’s MT537 pending report and the MT536 activity statement show the same type.

Where it appears in MT and ISO 20022

MT (ISO 15022)

MT540, MT541, MT542 and MT543: sequence E (SETDET), field 22F, :22F::SETR//SECL. The SETR qualifier is mandatory, so every instruction carries one code (format :4!c/[8c]/4!c; with a data source scheme a proprietary code may be sent instead).
Repeated in the confirmations MT544, MT545, MT546 and MT547 (sequence E, :22F::SETR//SECL) and in the MT548 status advice (sequence B, where SETR is mandatory when the sequence is present).
Optional in the statements: MT536 subsequence B1a2 and MT537 subsequences B2b and C2.

MX (ISO 20022)

sese.023: SttlmParams/SctiesTxTp/Cd = SECL (code list SecuritiesTransactionType23Code, unchanged in sese.023.001.09 to .013). SttlmParams/SctiesTxTp/Prtry carries a proprietary code instead.
Echoed in sese.024 at TxDtls/SttlmParams/SctiesTxTp/Cd and in sese.025 at SttlmParams/SctiesTxTp/Cd.
A loan with its return leg can also be sent as one sese.033 with TxTpAndAddtlParams/SctiesFincgTxTp = SECL.

Questions

What is the difference between SECL and SECB?: They describe the same loan from its two ends. The lender uses SECL on its delivery and on the return; the borrower uses SECB on its receipt and on the return.
Is a securities loan settled as SECL or as REPU?: As SECL (or SECB from the borrower). REPU and RVPO are for repos, where securities are sold for cash with an agreed buy-back. In a loan the securities are lent against separate collateral.
Which code goes on the collateral for a securities loan?: Collateral movements usually carry COLO from the giver (the borrower) and COLI from the taker (the lender), unless a triparty agent handles them.