ABA Business Law Section publishes 'Global Financial Collateral'

Association Business Law Section has published “Global Financial Collateral: A Guide to Security Interests in Securities, Securities Accounts, and Deposit Accounts in International,” based on a questionnaire that focuses on the choice-of-law complexities and substantive similarities and differences involved in international secured transactions.

Covering more than 40 jurisdictions, this compendium reveals the richness and complexity of commercial law with respect to security interests in financial collateral for international transactions. Members of the Business Law Section Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Committee’s International Law Subcommittee developed a fact pattern and questionnaire that lawyers from G-20 countries, offshore jurisdictions and other countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia completed. This questionnaire provided a common framework through which variations among jurisdictions could be readily identified, thus facilitating cross-border analysis. In one single volume, the scope of the project includes more than 40 jurisdictions worldwide.

This guidebook is a valuable resource for lawyers working on crossborder secured transactions involving common types of financial collateral, such as directly held certificated securities; directly held un-certificated securities; securities accounts (and securities credited to them); and deposit accounts. The book dedicates a chapter to each jurisdiction that is surveyed to provide general guidance when negotiating such a secured transaction in that jurisdiction. The guide aims to assist lawyers in framing their choice-of-law analysis and helping them gain insight into the substantive law complexities that can arise in transactions with this type of collateral.

Leading practitioners from more than 40 jurisdictions contributed their expertise to Global Financial Collateral, which was co-edited by Penelope L. Christophorou and Celeste Boeri Pozo. Christophorou is counsel at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, based in its New York office. She is chair of the Business Law Section and also a past president of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers. Pozo is lead counsel at the Inter- American Investment Corporation in Washington, D.C. She is vice-chair of the Business Law Section’s UCC Committee.