Secured Lending in Canada

There are various types of secured lending in thecase scenario when a bank has determined it
Canadian business environment. Let's examineneeds to 'call the loan ', terminology most business
some of those secured loans and discuss someowners know too well but hope they never have
of their characteristics.to live through. The bank is in effect, at that time,
When most business owners or financialattempting to crystallize on its loan. In securing
managers think of secured lending they arethe loan we spoke of the bank or other lending
thinking in terms of their operating loans orinstitution taking an assignment of the assets.
operating lines of credit, sometimes called 'Now that the loan has been called an actual
revolvers' in finance language.assignment is enforced - customers are notified
These loans are used to financing working capital,by the bank and monies are collected by the
primarily receivables and inventory. In taking andbank to reduce the loan outstanding. The bank
registering this security the bank or some similarnow finds itself in a position of having to deal with
financial institution will take an assignment of thesethe inventory they did not want to deal with, and
'liquid assets' of the company. On occasionwe typically find that the inventory is directed to
customers will hear the term ' demand loan ' andbe sold by an auctioneer or salvage firm, who
we are in effect talking about the same thing.acts as a temporary agent for the bank.
How does the bank or other institution secure theWhen loans are enforced in such a manner the
loan? They register what is known as a Generalresults are usually disastrous for the customer
Security Agreement, commonly called a 'GSAand have a major impact on the company's ability
'against the business. In determining their securityto go forward.
and overall all 'credit limit' with the customer theyLenders securities agreements in Canada are all
usually agree to advance against 75% of all goodregistered under Canada's Person Property
receivables, and some component of inventory.Security Act, and are in effect public knowledge
We can, as a general rule, say that banks don'tfor those that wish to investigate secured
really like inventory - simply because they aren'tdealings. This process is very similar to the
set up to liquidate on it when they have to.UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE (UCC) that exists
If everything goes well that is as much as thein the U.S., and in fact the security legislation in
business owner really needs to know. The loan isCanada was very closely model to the U.S. way
secured, the bank registers a public securityof secured lending notification.
against the company, and the company hasThere are other forms of secured lending Vis Vis
access to working capital.equipment, debentures, and security is generally
How does the Secured Lender realize on thehandled in the same manner re: registration, etc.
security? Again, we are talking about the worst