This paper, written as an introduction to a forthcoming symposium issue on international securitization and structured finance, explains the basic concepts of securitization and then examines securitization in a cross-border context. Securitization has an increasingly international focus because, among other reasons, companies that wish to raise capital market funding may not be located in countries with established capital markets. They therefore must structure deals that cross their national borders.Cross-border securitization, however, can be daunting to the uninitiated, involving multiple legal systems with strange terms and sometimes even stranger rules. I argue that it is unnecessary for a securitization lawyer who does not regularly practice in foreign jurisdictions to keep up with changes in foreign legal systems. All that is needed is a grasp of certain fundamental legal principles in order to ask the right questions of local counsel and understand the response and its implications. This article attempts to set forth those principles. The article also analyzes the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law's recently proposed Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade, designed to harmonize critical aspects of the laws applicable to cross-border securitization and finance.