One and the stock exchange agencies
One can buy or sell many things, even articles as expensive as a car without consulting a professional salesman, lawyer or accountant. Although it is not advisable to do it, there are people who sometimes buy or sell a real estate without the help of a broker or a lawyer.
People are free to buy or sell almost anything without the intervention of a professional to certify the deal if well this procedure can give place to any kind of legal problems.
The same thing happens with real estate securities: one can sell shares and debentures without consulting a lawyer or a stock exchange agent. There is no law against it, but if one does, one may get involved in many difficulties.
What do stock exchange agencies do for the investors?
If one were to buy securities without the intermediation of a stock exchange agency, one would have to work things out and make oneself this question:
- How will one make contact with someone that has the securities that one wants to acquire, in the quantity that one wants, and that it is also in favor of selling them to you, at the same or less price that one is willing to pay?
- How will one do this operation? Have you prepared a meeting with the salesman? At what time will one exchange the check for the securities certificate? If the meeting is not possible, will one send the salesman the check by mail and once received will he send back the securities?
- How can one prove that the certificates are authentic or if the salesman is the legitimate owner of the securities?
- Where should one keep the certificates to prevent someone to steal them or to be safe in case of fire?
- If one loses or destroys the certificates, how could one prove that one is the genuine owner of these documents?
If after a certain time one decides to sell these securities one would have to go through all these annoying paperwork again. It is clear that if every investor has to do there operations this way, the stock exchange market would not be as extent and active as it is today.
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