The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering implementing new regulations on the securities lending industry in an effort to shed more light on the "opaque" multitrillion-dollar business, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The commission is holding a meeting today to consider the issue.

Securities lending has been a big moneymaker for large financial firms and mutual funds, including the issuers of exchange-traded funds. The practice involves "lending" out the securities held by a fund to short-sellers in exchange for a fee.

The distribution and handling of revenues stemming from the practice varies significantly from provider to provider in the ETF space: Some providers deliver all the revenues to the fund shareholders, some split the revenues 50-50 between shareholders and the fund company itself, and others refuse to disclose the revenue split. As a result, investors are lost in the fog.

The problem is worse for shareholders because they bear all the risk from securities lending activity, including the risk of how cash collateral put up by borrowers is reinvested by the firm. The SEC is hoping that stricter regulations will encourage firms to shed light on those risks and help to minimize the chance of loss for shareholders.

You can read the full Wall Street Journal article here.