Collateral Registry of Liberia
The Liberia Collateral Registry is an initiative of the Central Bank of Liberia (with the support of IFC) to improve access to finance particularly for MSMEs. The Collateral Registry, which operationalizes Chapter 5 of the Liberia Commercial Code of 2010 (Secured Transactions Law) establishes a web based system that allows lenders to determine any prior security interests, as well as establish their security interests over movable assets pledged as collateral.
In exercise of its mandate to promote private sector lending, the CBL played a key role in the Government’s convening of a series of stakeholder meetings in 2009 and 2010 to identify a number of legislative and other reforms that would eliminate the principal barriers and constraints to private sector lending and access to capital, particularly for SMEs. The reforms that were introduced as a result of these consultations include:
- Enactment of a modern Commercial Code comprising nine laws that unambiguously determine the rights and obligations of parties to, and ensures the security of commercial transactions.
- The enactment of a law to create a Commercial Court that ensures speedy resolution of commercial disputes.
- The operationalization of the Commercial Court, with a mandatory pre-trial arbitration process which has acquired an impressive reputation for prompt resolution of disputes.
- Enactment of laws to create key financial sector infrastructure such as a Secured Transactions and Collateral Registry
The Collateral Registry Project, which has also been informed by extensive consultation with private sector umbrella organizations (LIBA, COLINBO, Fulla Business Association, Liberia Chamber of Commerce, Liberia Marketing Association etc.), will permit the use of movable / personal assets as collateral and thereby improve access to finance because:
- Movable assets/personal property often account for most of the capital stock of private firms and comprise an especially large share for micro, small, and medium-size enterprises.
- Movable assets are the main type of collateral that SMEs, especially those in developing countries, can pledge to obtain bank financing.
- Given the opportunities in agri-business among others, a collateral registry regime will permit Liberian farmers and entrepreneurs to unlock significant sources of capital with collateral that would otherwise not count as such.
The Central Bank of Liberia remains committed to the sustainable economic growth of Liberia and shall continue to support the development of necessary financial sector infrastructure.
How to Access the Collateral Registry Website
The Collateral Registry website can be access in three different ways. The kind of access to the Collateral Registry website that you require depends on the kind of transaction to be undertaken. It also depend on whether you are an institution or an individual going to use it to register a Financing Statement (FS) notices regularly or only once or infrequently or a Public user who only search the registry system for uncertified search report.
Postpaid Client Account Access
If you are with a financial institution or company that will register notices of securing charge on a regular basis, the financial institution or company should open a client account on the Collateral Registry System. This will allow the institution through its authorized users to log in to the website to register notices or financing statement and to request for certified and uncertified search reports.
Fees for registering and requesting certified search reports are automatically deducted to the membership account of the user. A statement is generated for the client at the end of each month, detailing all completed chargeable transactions.
Public Access
If all you want to do is to search for existing Financing Statement, Click Search menu on the Home Page to choose flexible search or legally effective search to go to the Search screen. In that case, there is no need to log in, and no fees are charged for obtaining uncertified search report but fees will be charged for obtaining certified search report.
Prepaid Client Account Access
If you or your company will register notices or request certified search reports only once or infrequently, or if your institution is not a commercial bank with so do not have an account with the Central Bank of Liberia, you must still pay the fees in advance. You should first determine how many notices you want to register and how many certified search reports you need. Return to the Welcome screen and select the Fees option to view the fee schedule. Determine the total amount of fees for all the services you want to do. Then pay that amount at the central bank of Liberia or designated paypoint outlet. The paypoint officer at CBL or the designated paypoint will enter the payment into the Collateral Registry system and give you a receipt with a number on it. You may then log in to the Collateral Registry website using the number from the receipt and register your notices or request certified search reports.The Collateral Registry System will assign a number to your client account after registration, which you must provide to the paypoint officer when you make payments for your account to be credited. Please note that all transactions must be paid for in advance for prepaid users.