Equity and Debt Securities

Abstract This chapter discusses securities. Securities are an important and complex category of intangible. A ‘security’ is defined as a fungible financial instrument, offered for sale on identical terms to multiple investors on first issue, and thereafter generally traded in a market that facilitates its free transfer. Securities can broadly be classified into shares, debt securities, and hybrid securities. The chapter then looks at the legal incidents of securities, and how securities are allotted and held. Allotment describes the process whereby the issuer of securities agrees to issue those securities to a particular person and that person agrees to buy those securities. Meanwhile, the question of how securities are held has become an increasing complex area. Originally, securities were held in paper form. Such paper-based systems are increasingly becoming redundant but their operation remains important because they are relevant to the electronic systems by which securities are held today.