Bahamas’ Central Bank says will work on plans for registry of moveable assets, including IP, during 2027

The Central Bank of the Bahamas will next year start developing plans for a new Collateral Registry that will allow banks to lend against non-traditional assets, such as accounts receivable, vehicles, office furniture, equipment – and Intellectual Property (IP).

The creation of such a Collateral Registry is called for by the Movable Property Security Interests Act, 2025, passed by the Bahamas Parliament in March last year. No timescale for the establishment of the registry (or indeed when any of the clauses in the Act will come into effect) was included in the Act, however. The Act just says it “shall come into operation on the date the Minister appoints.”

Bahamas Central Bank Governor John Rolle told the media at the Bank’s quarterly economic press briefing at a press conference following, that the proposed registry was the “next stage in efforts to improve the country’s lending environment, following the introduction of the credit bureau,” according to a news story on Bahamian website Eyewitness News. “The next step beyond having the credit bureau is to put in place what we call a collateral assets registry and that’s work that we’re going to continue to advance working with the government side in 2027.”

The 2025 Act covers the usual necessary steps before any moveable property, including IP, can be taken as collateral for band lending. In addition to the need for a Registry, the Act lists creating a security interest in moveable property, what assets can be used as collateral, and the priority of security interests in various situations.

The Bahamas is just the latest country around the world to change its laws to allow for the use of IP as collateral for bank lending and other forms of finance. For example, Scotland passed its Moveable Transactions Act in 2023, which came into force April 1, 2025. Up until then, Scottish law held that exercising effective security over an asset involved taking physical possession of the asset in question, which was considered highly problematic with moveable assets.

Other countries which have recently enacted legislation to make it more easy for IP to be used as collateral include Uzbekistan, Kenya, Jamaica, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Iran.

Image: Parliament Square, Nassau, The Bahamas Photo by Marc Fanelli-Isla on Unsplash