In the context of cross-border secured financing transactions involving Canada and the United States, the rules relating to perfection and priority of personal property pledged in favour of a lender or agent are similar. In the U.S., Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code governs while each Canadian jurisdiction has its own personal property security … Continue reading
The Bank of Canada (BoC) recently announced its decision to maintain the overnight rate target at 1 ¾%– while the Bank Rate and deposit rate are 2% and 1 ½% respectively – resulting in no shortage of backlash. In its press release, the BoC cites the escalation of international trade conflict as a factor in … Continue reading
In secured financing transactions, cash is a popular and useful form of collateral. It is fully liquid, readily available and transferrable, and its value is always known. A debtor holding cash in a deposit account may wish or be required to use it as collateral for obligations such as loans, repurchases and derivative transactions. In … Continue reading
We frequently act as Canadian counsel to lenders and borrowers in cross-border transactions where credit support is provided to a US parent company by one or more of its Canadian subsidiaries. In structuring the deal, a considerable amount of time can be spent determining the extent to which the collateral of the Canadian subsidiaries should … Continue reading
The other day I cued up a new release movie that I had been eagerly anticipating. As the opening credits rolled, I couldn’t believe how many entities were being credited. The list kept going and going, with a range of what appeared to be both governmental and private organizations. What could these organizations all have … Continue reading
Earlier this year I wrote about the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) announcement in July of its plan to phase-out the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), the interest rate benchmark used to set payments on more than $350 trillion in financial contracts such interest-rate derivatives, corporate bonds, mortgage loans and more. The FCA’s intention is to … Continue reading
The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), the interest rate benchmark used to calculate interest rates on short-term loans by many large banks, will be phased out after 2021 according to its regulator. The London based Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently announced that due to growing concerns regarding the long term sustainability of the benchmark, which … Continue reading