This guide was adopted by the UNIDROIT Governing Council at its 96th session (Rome, 10-12 May 2017). It is the third instrument resulting from UNIDROIT's work in the area of capital markets law, which has sought to promote legal certainty and sustainable growth in this area of economic activity. The Guide is intended to complement and promote the first instrument - the UNIDROIT Convention on Substantive Rules for Intermediated Securities, which was adopted at the final session of the diplomatic Conference to adopt a Convention on Substantive Rules regarding Intermediated Securities (Geneva, 5-9 October 2009) - by summarising the Convention's key principles and rules and by offering guidance on choices to be made and matters to be addressed or clarified in establishing an intermediated securities holding system or evaluating an existing one. The Guide also complements and promotes the second instrument - the UNIDROIT Principles on the Operation of Close-Out Netting Provisions, which were adopted by the UNIDROIT Governing Council at its 92nd session (Rome, 8-10 May 2013) - by offering guidance consistent with those Principles and incorporating references to them.