No black ink on hands
The stock market participants, who invested or traded in stocks in the 1980s and 1990s would remember how tedious it was to buy stocks and get the ownership transferred in their own name. “Bad delivery” and “lost dividends” were such a big nuisance. Then dematerialization of securities was implemented and things changed forever. Research has shown that investors of that era still consider “dematerialization” as the single most important reform in financial markets. Many of the market participants who started to participate in markets after 2000 even might not be aware that people holding securities in dematerialized form are technically not the legal owners of such securities. They are only beneficial owners of securities– implying that they have the legal right to receive all benefits accruing in respect of those securities. This beneficial ownership is freely transferable, subject to regulatory lock-in and other legal restrictions. The legal ownership of the dematerialized securiti...