FSM's Nationwide Secured Transactions Registry — Two Decades of Movable-Asset Lending

The Federated States of Micronesia enacted a Secured Transactions Act in 2005–2006 and opened a national filing office in October 2006, later moved online, letting businesses register security interests over movable property — vehicles, equipment, inventory, accounts receivable — rather than relying only on land, which in FSM is largely under customary or communal tenure and difficult to mortgage.
The registry has, in ADB's words, "operated successfully since 2006, as evidenced by continuously increasing numbers of registrations and searches," and by June 2024 had recorded more than 7,500 registered security interests used as loan collateral — a rare multi-year usage trend for a Pacific microstate reform.
PSDI, funded by ADB, Australia and New Zealand, continues working with the FSM government on the same law-reform model it has applied in Palau, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Samoa, now focused on increasing lender uptake and upgrading the registry platform.
Available reporting documents cumulative registrations and registry longevity but does not quantify how many FSM small businesses obtained financing they otherwise would not have, nor loan default or repayment outcomes — a real gap for any claim of downstream economic impact.

Read the full analysis: https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-investment-climate-statements/federated-states-of-micronesia/