If you ask a Tanzanian business owner why the bank said no to their loan application, the response is often the same: the business is real, the stock and machinery are real, but the only collateral the lender would take is land. The Secured Transactions (Movable Property) Act 2026 (“the Act”)2 is intended to break this pattern by creating Tanzania Mainland’s first dedicated framework for taking security over movable property (i.e., inventory, equipment, vehicles, livestock, crops, receivables and other tangible and intangible assets) as loan collateral. It establishes a Collateral Registry (“the Registry”) under the Bank of Tanzania (“BOT”) and sets out rules on how security interests are created, registered, prioritised and enforced. The policy aim is to increase access to credit, support growth and reduce poverty by allowing borrowers to use the productive assets they already hold or own thereby