The problem is that most people don't know what the current account is. A simple solution would be to call the current account balance, the trade balance since it is a record of all trade in goods and services. And, call the merchandise trade balance, the merchandise goods balance or the goods balance for short. I will ascribe to this convention throughout this text in the hope that it might catch on. The capital account records all international trade in assets.
Assets represents all forms of ownership claims in things that have value.
They include bonds, treasury bills, stocks, mutual funds, bank deposits, real estate, currency and other types of financial instruments. It is useful to differentiate between two different types of assets. First, some assets represent IOUs. In the case of bonds, savings accounts, treasury bills, etc., the purchaser of the asset agrees to give money to the seller of the asset in return for an interest payment plus the return of the principal at some time in the future. These asset purchases represent borrowing and lending.