A Financial Product’s Issuer Shapes What Investors Own and Can Claim

The party legally issuing a stock, bond, fund share or crypto token can determine what a holder owns and who must pay or redeem it if obligations come due. The Securities Act defines an issuer as a person that issues or proposes to issue a security. Its definition of a person includes corporations, trusts and governments, so an issuer can be more than a company. An adviser, broker, exchange or custodian may play a role in selling or managing a product without being its issuer. A stock gives its holder an ownership stake in a company.