Signature guarantee is a method of ensuring a signature’s validity and protecting against identity theft in the transferring or selling of property, usually stocks. A person gets a signature guarantee through a registered financial institution which assures that a signature is actually from its purported signor for a small fee. The financial institution then bears any losses resulting from fraud if the signature turns out to be invalid. Signature guarantees are commonly used for stock or other ownership transfers that are in paper form only.
[Last updated in July of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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