Dematerialization (securities)

In finance and financial law, dematerialization refers to the substitution of paper-form securities by book-entry securities. This is a form of indirect holding system in which an intermediary, such as a broker or central securities depository, or the issuer (e.g., French system) holds a record of the ownership of shares usually in electronic format. The dematerialization of securities such as stocks has been a major trend since the late 1960s, with the result that by 2010 the majority of global securities were held in dematerialized form electronically.