P&G gets impact award for contribution to ease of doing business
Top commercial law firm, Perchstone & Graeys has been singled out for an impact award in recognition of its contribution to the 2016-2017 Ease of Doing Business reforms. The award presentation took place during the first year anniversary of the inauguration of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) on Monday December 11, 2017.
The law firm has worked extensively on the Secured Transaction on Moveable Assets Collateral Registry Bill (Now Act) for almost eight years. The Act creates a framework that establishes and maintains a centralized collateral registry where records of transactions and the moveable assets offered as security are electronically recorded. The Banks have direct access to this registry from any of their offices anywhere in the world giving them the unique opportunity to trace any asset offered as security.
Perchstone & Graeys has also been involved in a number of other initiatives to assist in the ease of doing business and to attract foreign direct investment into Nigeria.
Speaking about the Secured Transaction on Moveable Assets Collateral Registry Act, the Managing Partner of the firm, Osaro Eghobamien, SAN said, “the object of the Act is principally to enable small and medium sized industries to access credit using any asset other than land including asset receivables. This has the capacity to enhance GDP considerably.”
On the firm’s award he said, “This effort almost invariably requires confronting bureaucracy, which can more often than not be frustrating. However, we are resolved never to give up and to remain persistent in that effort.”
As a whole, the essence of the Act is to create a more efficient platform for SME’s and retail consumers to confirm their creditworthiness to lending institutions; allow potential lenders to determine who has priority to reclaim an asset that may have been submitted as collateral; allow for more efficient risk management in the financial sector as there would be more diversification of the qualified assets class acceptable as security for any SME’s loan created; serve as a platform for lending institutions to confirm the creditworthiness of prospective borrowers before advancing credits.
It is hoped that the public will be adequately informed of the benefits of this Act and the establishment of the Collateral Registry to encourage businesses.
Nigeria has only recently been elevated 24 points upward in the World Bank’s Comparative Analysis of the ease of doing business in various countries.