Stop 'sliming' your liquid assets: Security over deposit accounts - US Perspectives

This article discusses the role played by art 9 of the United States’ Uniform Commercial Code in the Global Financial Crisis, and outlines the method for taking security over deposit accounts held in US banks. It compares the process for taking such security in Australia with that used in the US, and places particular emphasis on the detailed provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code relating to attachment, collateral description, consumer exceptions, perfection by control, standard control agreements, priorities and proceeds. It is submitted that the set-up, workings and side effects of the Uniform Commercial Code art 9 regime will be instructive for practitioners in non-US jurisdictions, and may prompt useful questions and insights about their own rules and commercial conventions. Relevant portions of the American Bar Association’s Joint Taskforce on Deposit Account Control Agreements are discussed, and some comparative observations are made for those involved in international transactions.