Acting President Osinbajo Signs 2 Bills Into Law | “Movable Assets Now Collateral”

Acting President Osinbajo Signs 2 Bills Into Law | “Movable Assets Now Collateral”

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday signed new laws that would compel banks to accept movable assets at collateral with which to issue loans to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises as well as other Nigerians.

This was contained in a statement signed by signed by Mr Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President.

The bills which have been signed in Acts by the acting president are part of the bills passed by the National Assembly to ease doing business in Nigeria.

The bills which have now become ‘Acts’ are the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, 2017 (otherwise known as Collateral Registry Act) and the Credit Reporting Act, 2017.

The Collateral Registry Act’ ensures that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria can register their movable assets such as motor vehicles, equipment and accounts receivable in the National Collateral Registry, and use same as collateral for accessing loans.

This in turn will increase their chances at accessing financing and tackle one of the major obstacles faced by MSMEs.

On the other hand, ‘The Credit Reporting Act’ provides for credit information sharing between Credit Bureaus and lenders (such as banks), as well as other institutions that provide services on credit such as telecommunication companies and retailers.