Banking: pledging property to secure a loan. Hypothecation does not transfer title, but it does transfer the right to sell the hypothecated property in the event of default.
Securities: pledging of securities to brokers as collateral for loans made to purchase securities or to cover short sales, called margin loans. When the same collateral is pledged by the broker to a bank to collateralize a broker's loan, the process is called rehypothecation.

sign a document transferring ownership from one party to another. Ownership can be in a number of forms, including tangible property, rights (usually arising out of contracts), or the right to transfer ownership at some later time. The party who assigns is called the assignor and the party who receives the transfer of title-the assignment -is the assignee.

Stocks and registered bonds can be assigned by completing and signing a form printed on the back of the certificate-or, as is sometimes preferred for safety reasons, by executing a separate form, called an assignment separate from certificate or stock/bond power.

When the Options Clearing Corporation learns of the exercise of an option, it prepares an assignment form notifying a broker-dealer that an option written by one of its clients has been exercised. The firm in turn assigns the exercise in accordance with its internal procedures.

An assignment for the benefit of creditors, sometimes called simply an assignment, is an alternative to bankruptcy, whereby the assets of a company are assigned to the creditors and liquidated for their benefit by a trustee.

1. signing over title, rights, or other interests to another person.
2. in a letter of credit (L/C), transfer by a beneficiaryof all or part of the credit facility to another party, which must be confirmed by the advising bank.
3. writing on the back of a stock certificate transferring ownership to another holder.
4. transfer of debtor's property to creditors, called an assignment for the benefit of creditors. Transfers in the 90 days prior to a bankruptcy petition may, however, be set aside by a bankruptcy trustee.See alsovoidable preference.
5. option writer's notice to the Options Clearing Corp. of his intention to fulfill an offsetting buy, resulting in all assignment in favor of the seller.

Banking: pledging property to secure a loan. Hypothecation does not transfer title, but it does transfer the right to sell the hypothecated property in the event of default.
Securities: pledging of securities to brokers as collateral for loans made to purchase securities or to cover short sales, called margin loans. When the same collateral is pledged by the broker to a bank to collateralize a broker's loan, the process is called rehypothecation.