The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to the on-going reform of the secured transactions framework in Malawi that seeks to increase access to credit, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Malawi may become the first jurisdiction in Africa to have a modern and efficient legal framework in place for security interests in personal property. The legal reform culminated in the adoption of the Personal Property Security Act in July 2013.

Over the last few decades, many countries have reformed their secured transactions law. One of the main reasons has been the clear link between reform and the availability of credit, and the drive to improve access to finance, particularly for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. This book focuses particularly on developing economies in Africa, which have legal frameworks influenced by English, French, Belgian, Roman-Dutch and other laws. Reform in this area of law across African countries has taken a number of forms, which are explored and discussed in this book. Secured Transactions Law Reform in Africa is a mixture of a critical description of the pre-reform law and practice, and the reform process itself. It also includes a comparative analysis of the legal provisions and an examination of the early results of the reforms. The book sets out a road map for the future of secured transactions reform; primarily in Africa, but also in other countries that have undertaken or are contemplating similar reforms. This book is the second in a series of books about Secured Transactions Law in countries around the world, and its reform, both on a national and an international scale. The first book, Secured Transactions Law Reform: Principles, Policies and Practice, was published in 2016.

Secured transactions law has been subjected to a close scrutiny over the last two decades. One of the main reasons for this is the importance of availability of credit and the consequent need to reform collateral laws in order to improve access to finance. The ability to give security effectively influences not only the cost of credit but also, in some cases, whether credit will be available at all. This requires rules that are transparent and readily accessible to non-lawyers as well as rules that recognise the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. This book critically engages with the challenges posed by inefficient secured credit laws. It offers a comparative analysis of the reasons and the needs for a secured transactions law reform, as well as discussion of the steps taken in many common law, civil law and mixed law jurisdictions. The book, written under the auspices of the Secured Transactions Law Reform Project, informs the debate about reform and advances novel arguments written by world renowned experts that will build upon the existing literature, and as such will be of interest to academics, legal practitioners and the judiciary involved in secured transactions law around the world. The text considers reform initiatives that have taken place up to the end of April 2016. It has not been possible to incorporate events since then into the discussion. However, notable developments include the banks decree passed by the Italian Government on 29th June 2016, and the adoption of the Model Law on Secured Transactions by UNCITRAL on 1st July 2016.

This cutting-edge Handbook presents an overview of research and thinking in the field of secured financing, examining international standards and best practices of secured transactions law reform and its economic impact. Expert contributors explore the

Doing Business 2016 is the 13th publication in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 189 economies. This year the publication addresses regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity including: •Starting a business •Dealing with construction permits •Getting electricity •Registering property •Getting credit •Protecting minority investors •Paying taxes •Trading across borders •Enforcing contracts •Resolving insolvency Doing Business 2016 updates all indicators as of June 1, 2015, ranks economies on their overall ease of doing business, and analyzes reforms to business regulation †“ identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. This report illustrates how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. It is a flagship product produced by the World Bank Group that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies have used the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 2,100 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.

This book addresses core issues of personal property law in Nigeria from a comparative perspective. It offers a detailed account of the laws governing personal property and the different lightweight reforms undertaken mainly through case law before the enactment of the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act in 2017. The book draws insights from the United States UCC article 9, being unarguably the first law that introduced the concept of modern secured transactions law, and was influential to many common and civilian law systems in reforming their personal property laws. Given that personal property law is fairly new in Nigeria, and also in Africa in general, the main aim of the book is to provide judges and academic researchers with a rich collection of tested solutions from jurisdictions that have experimented with modern secured transactions law for several decades. The primary and secondary works that were referenced in the book have tracked the different epochal shifts in legal thinking and their significances. This may assist scholars and judges in Nigeria to come up with bespoke interpretations of the Act and solutions to underlying problems on credit and security, that will satisfy the local conditions as opposed to copying the unaltered solutions from the United States and other advanced systems.

Tenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2013 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, closing a business, and employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2012, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the global Doing Business report. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.

Sixteenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2019 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: • Starting a business • Dealing with construction permits • Getting electricity • Registering property • Getting credit • Protecting minority investors • Paying taxes • Trading across borders • Enforcing contracts • Resolving insolvency These areas are included in the distance to frontier score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in these two measures. This edition also presents the findings of the pilot indicator entitled 'Contracting with the Government,' which aims at benchmarking the efficiency, quality and transparency of public procurement systems worldwide. The report updates all indicators as of May 1, 2018, ranks economies on their overall 'ease of doing business', and analyzes reforms to business regulation -- identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business illustrates how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. It is a flagship product produced in partnership by the World Bank Group that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. Almost 140 economies have used the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground.