A Depository Receipt (DR) is a negotiable certificate that usually represents companies publicly traded equity or debt.

Depository receipts are created when a broker purchases the companies shares on the home stock market and delivers those to the depositorys local custodian bank, which then instructs the depository bank, to issue Depository receipts. Depository receipts are quoted and traded in the currency of the country in which they trade, and are governed by the trading and settlement procedures of the market. The ease of trading and settling DRs makes them an attractive investment option for the investor wishing to purchase shares in foreign companies. Depository receipts may trade freely, just like any other security, either on an exchange or in the over-the-counter market and can be used to raise capital. This is usually the way non-US shares are traded in New York, where they are known as American Depository Receipts (ADRS), since it allows a company to have access to the investors without the expense of actually listing its shares on one of the US exchanges. The most common DRs are the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) and the Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). International Depository Receipts (IDRs) and the European Depository Receipts (EDRs) are rarer forms of DRs. From a legal and settlement standpoint, there is no difference between various types of DRs.