The entitlement date is the day on which an issuer or depository takes a snapshot of holdings in order to decide who will receive a dividend, bonus shares, rights or other proceeds of a corporate action. Whoever is recorded as the holder at the close of business on that date is entitled. In most markets the same date is called the record date; "entitlement date" is the usual wording on some exchanges, particularly in parts of Asia, and in the systems of some custodians.
The date should be read together with the ex-date. Because trades settle after they are dealt, the ex-dividend date is set so that only purchases made before it settle in time to appear on the entitlement date. Custodians capture client positions as at that date, a step described under position capture date, and use them in the corporate action entitlement calculation. For voluntary events, entitlement instead depends on the holder's election.