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Financial instruments can be categorised according to whether they are cash instruments or Derivatives of other instruments.

Alternatively they can be categorised by 'asset class' depending on whether they are equity based (reflecting Ownership of the issuing entity) or debt based (reflecting a loan the investor has made to the issuing entity). If it is debt, it can be further categorised into short term (less than one year) or long term. Foreign Exchange instruments and transactions are neither debt nor equity based and belong in their own category.

Combining the above methods for categorisation, the main instruments can be organized into a matrix as follows:

Some instruments defy categorisation into the above matrix, for example Repurchase Agreement s.