Saint Lucia’s Collateral Registry is housed within the High Court of Saint Lucia. The registry operates under the legal framework established by the Security Interest in Movable Properties Act, ensuring transparency, enforceability, and ease of access for lenders and borrowers. Daniel Francis, Registrar of the High Court, reflects on the registry’s first year of operation.
“The Collateral Registry has been very well received by the business community, particularly our financial sector. We see a lot of buy-in, we get a lot of feedback from the banks in particular, and that helps us in ensuring that we deliver a quality product as we go forward. Performance-wise, the registry has performed as expected. In fact, in a number of benchmarks we’ve exceeded our expectations in terms of performance and I anticipate good things as we continue along.”
Four key features of the Collateral Registry include public access, a legal framework, transparency, and efficiency.
“From an individual standpoint, persons are now able to search the registry database and get real-time results. Previously you would have to come in, perform a search which would be manual and the data would not be as accurate as you would like and it also took a lot longer than it does at present. The major change for financial institutions in particular or the financial sector is that you are now able to perform your registrations with the click of a button from your offices and have your registrations completed and registered at the end of your entry process. So it’s almost a real-time registration process which allows them the ease of knowing that other transactions cannot be registered against their charges without them knowing.”
The registry helps to lower lending risks for financial institutions and promotes financial inclusion. The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) has been central to the establishment of the Collateral Registry, in collaboration with international partners such as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Sharma Mathurin is the Deputy Director of the NCPC.
“To date the latest data indicates that there are over 4,500 registrants on the platform and what I think is very encouraging is that it meets the initial objective of expanding the range of assets that can be used as collateral. So when we look at the types of collateral that have been utilized we see, yes the majority are vehicles but we’re seeing other types of collateral. Though they’re small in number, it’s still early but we are also encouraged that we are seeing a graduation from vehicles to other assets such as airplanes, crops, shares from companies, and other assets that the legislative forum seeks to utilize and encourage.”
Mathurin emphasized that the Collateral Registry is creating a more dynamic lending environment by expanding access to credit and reducing borrowing costs. This, she noted, will drive the development of innovative financial products tailored to a wider range of borrowers.