What term refers to paper certificates or electronic records evidencing ownership of equity or debt obligations?

• A. Derivatives
• B. Securities
• C. Commodities
• D. Real Assets

Answer: (B)

Securities are financial instruments that evidence ownership in an issuer (equity) or a creditor relationship (debt). Historically they could be paper certificates, but today they are mostly electronic records stored in book-entry form. This category includes stocks, bonds, and similar instruments that are traded in capital markets and governed by securities laws.

Other options don’t fit because derivatives are contracts whose value comes from an underlying asset, not ownership of the asset itself; commodities are physical goods traded as contracts (like oil or gold) but aren’t ownership stakes in a company or its debt; real assets are tangible, non-financial items such as real estate or infrastructure.