Business is stymied without access to finance, an issue PSDI has addressed by helping establish legal frameworks that allow lenders to secure loans by taking ‘moveable’ business assets—such as vehicles, crops, or accounts receivable—as collateral. These ‘secured transactions’ reforms have now been implemented in eight countries: Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu, with new laws passed and electronic registries establish in each to record details of borrowers and collateral pledged. Where the reforms have been in place for a number of years, thousands of new loans have been granted. In some countries, however, the lesson has been that most lenders need time and encouragement to adjust to the new framework. Instead of commercial banks, often the most active adopters of the new system are finance companies, and even development banks. — Blogs.adb.org/blog