Sri Lanka latest country to change regulations to allow IP value to be used as collateral in lending

Photo by Jalitha Hewage on Unsplash

The Sri Lankan government and regulators are changing the country’s laws to allow for intellectual property and other intangible assets to be used as collateral for borrowing.

According to a report on Sri Lanka news website Daily FT, The Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB) is working with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the country’s Finance Ministry to create a Secured Transaction Registry (STR) which will support the creation of a modernised credit infrastructure for the island nation.

The moves follow the passing last year of the country’s Secured Transactions (Amendment) Act No. 17 of 2024, and the new STR project is being supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group.

In the Daily FT article, CRIB Director/General Manager Pushpike Jayasundera was asked why the new registry matters. He says:

“Secured transaction systems are established to facilitate the extension of credit secured on moveable assets and intangible collateral. A well-functioning secured transaction system can deepen Sri Lanka’s financial services market by making credit available to a wider range of borrowers such as MSMEs, entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals, who would otherwise have no access to credit. It will also protect the rights of creditors in secured lending, thereby increasing their willingness to provide financing against moveable collateral.”

He also pointed out that MSMEs frequently lack fixed assets which larger companies can use for lender security, but can be rich in intangible assets such as IP and other ‘moveable property’.

He stressed that while there are no regulations forbidding the use of moveable property as collateral in Sri Lanka, banks and other financial institutions remained reluctant to accept movables.

He adds:

“This is largely due to the high risk involved, as well as lack of an official mechanism to register security interests in moveable assets, and to determine priority in a security giver’s collateral. The only movables accepted as collateral are jewellery and motor vehicles primarily.”

With the new registry, a wide range of intangible assets will be usable as collateral, including licenses and intellectual property rights.

Mr Jayasundera explains that the CRIB will create and maintain the Secured Transactions Registry, including keeping records of who has rights over moveable assets being used as security, as well as educating the public about “the benefits they stand to gain with the possibility of presenting moveable assets as collateral.”

Sri Lanka will be joining a growing list of countries which have changed their laws and regulations to allow intangibles, including IP, to be used as security for bank lending and related transactions. This list includes the Bahamas, Uganda, Nepal, Jamaica, and Scotland, which have all proposed or passed legislation to better facilitate the use of IP value in IP-backed finance.