Institutional investors have restarted the stock lending programmes they stopped after the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago this month, but they have come back to the practice with a radically different attitude, according to the custodians and agents who serve them.

Several institutions woke up to the news of Lehman Brothers' filing for bankruptcy protection and found securities they had lent were stuck in the bank, even when they thought they had no exposure to it. The fear that this experience might be repeated with other banks led many investors to put securities lending on hold.