Countries › Peru › Guide › 10. Capital markets and finance › Secured lending and collateral in Peru: movable collateral and the SUNARP SIGM notice system, priority and purchase money security, out of court enforcement, mortgages and security trusts

Secured lending and collateral in Peru: movable collateral and the SUNARP SIGM notice system, priority and purchase money security, out of court enforcement, mortgages and security trusts

Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Stable

Peru's movable collateral regime of 2018 lets almost any present or future movable asset, from inventory and receivables to shares and concession cash flows, secure any obligation, with or without possession, by any written document showing the parties' will, and priority runs from the time an electronic notice is entered in the SUNARP SIGM system, live since March 2025, with super priority for purchase money security if notice is filed before the debtor takes possession. Creditors may enforce in or out of court, including taking possession and selling privately through a representative or, if agreed, keeping the asset at an agreed valuation and refunding any surplus within 10 days, and debtors cannot stop a sale except by paying. Land is secured by registered mortgage under the Civil Code, and security trusts with a separate trustee are widely used, with trust assets ring fenced from the trustee's and settlor's creditors.

USD figures use S/ 3.452 per US dollar, the banking system selling rate published by the Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP for 27 October 2026 as shown in the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú statistics series PD04640PD. Amounts the law sets in soles, UIT or dollars are quoted as written; the 2026 UIT is S/ 5,500 under Decreto Supremo Nº 301-2025-EF. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Date SIGM electronic notices replaced registry filings for movable collateral	2025-03-03 dateRes. 00011-2025-SUNARP/SN, as of 2025-03-03 · in force
Priority among movable security	First to file SIGM notice; purchase money super priority textDL 1400 art. 35 and 36, as of 2018-09-10 · in force
Default effectiveness of SIGM notice	5 yearsDL 1400 art. 33, as of 2018-09-10 · in force
Out of court enforcement of movable collateral	Allowed, including private sale and agreed appropriation textDL 1400 art. 48, 51 and 58, as of 2018-09-10 · in force
Notary required for movable security	No, written form with legalized, digital or handwritten signatures textDL 1400 art. 6, as of 2018-09-10 · in force
Surplus refund after appropriation	10 daysDL 1400 art. 58, as of 2018-09-10 · in force
Maximum trust term	30 yearsLey 26702 art. 251, as of 1996-12-09 · in force

The rule

1. Movable assets of any kind, specific or generic, tangible or intangible, present or future, may be given as collateral, including vehicles, inventory, deposit balances, bills of lading, shares and partnership interests, intellectual property rights, receivables and credit portfolios, insurance proceeds, machinery, leased assets, private concessions and their cash flows, crops, mining products and future flows. Excluded are unattachable assets, intangibles excluded by law, ships and aircraft under their own laws, book entry securities in a settlement institution (which follow their own rules), warrants and deposit certificates, wages, mandatory pension fund assets and movables that form part of a mortgaged building.
Cost to do it: No notary needed; cost is drafting and the SIGM notice.
Example: A Lima distributor pledges its rotating inventory and receivables to a bank in one security agreement. / A US$20 million loan to a Peruvian concessionaire can be secured on the concession's future cash flows.Decreto Legislativo Nº 1400, Régimen de Garantía Mobiliaria (El Peruano 10 September 2018), Art. 4 and art. 5, 2018-09-10 official text · verified 2026-10-28

2. Security may be possessory or non possessory, and may include control agreements. Possessory security is created on delivery of the asset to the creditor or a depositary; non possessory security is created by the constitutive act. In both cases the agreement must be in any written medium evidencing the parties' will, under penalty of nullity, by public deed, legalized signatures, digital signatures or handwritten signatures as the parties choose. Unless agreed otherwise, the security extends to parts, accessories and proceeds, and one agreement can cover several assets or categories.
Cost to do it: Public deed optional; legalized or digital signatures suffice.
Example: A non possessory pledge over a fleet of 40 trucks can be signed with digital signatures and perfected by SIGM notice. / Foreign lenders can sign security agreements digitally from abroad without a Peruvian notary.Decreto Legislativo Nº 1400, Régimen de Garantía Mobiliaria (El Peruano 10 September 2018), Art. 6 and art. 7, 2018-09-10 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. Priority and effectiveness against third parties run from publicity under the decree. Among secured creditors whose security is publicized by an electronic notice in the SIGM, priority follows time order; the notice gives publicity, priority and the right to pursue and be paid from the collateral ahead of later creditors. For possessory security, priority runs from the time the creditor or depositary takes possession, unless an earlier SIGM notice exists; for deposit balances, from the time control is granted. A purchase money security interest over equipment has priority over competing security if the notice is filed before the debtor takes possession, and over inventory if earlier secured creditors are also notified in writing.
Cost to do it: SIGM notice cost not verified in this session.
Example: A supplier financing a new production line files its purchase money notice before delivery and ranks ahead of the borrower's existing bank lender on that equipment. / Timing is everything: an hour's delay in filing a SIGM notice can rank a US$5 million claim second.Decreto Legislativo Nº 1400, Régimen de Garantía Mobiliaria (El Peruano 10 September 2018), Art. 34, art. 35 and art. 36, 2018-09-10 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. The SIGM is a personal folio electronic notice system with no legal review; it time stamps each notice to the second and is publicly searchable. Notices are effective for the period stated or, if none, five years, renewable before expiry. A user who enters inaccurate information or fails to cancel within three business days after learning of an error commits an infraction that SUNARP may sanction with a warning or a fine of up to 100 UIT; debtors may demand modification or cancellation of wrong notices within 15 business days and then go to court.
Cost to do it: Fines up to 100 UIT (S/ 550,000, US$159,328) for wrong or uncancelled notices.
Example: A lender that does not cancel its notice within three business days after full repayment risks a SUNARP fine. / Diaries for five year renewals are essential on long tenor loans.Decreto Legislativo Nº 1400, Régimen de Garantía Mobiliaria (El Peruano 10 September 2018), with the SIGM database in operation from 2 March 2025 under Resolución Nº 00011-2025-SUNARP/SN and notices replacing registry filings from 3 March 2025, Art. 27, art. 30, art. 31, art. 32 and art. 33, 2018-09-10 official text · verified 2026-10-28

5. Enforcement may be judicial or extrajudicial once the secured obligation is due. Out of court, the creditor or its representative may take possession, collect or sell, and after notice the debtor must deliver the asset; taking possession in breach of the agreed procedures carries a penalty of twice the asset's agreed value. Out of court sale may be private or by auction, through a representative with irrevocable power; the creditor cannot be its own representative. A sale cannot be suspended unless payment in full is proven or the creditor agrees. The parties may agree that the creditor keeps the asset at an agreed value or method; any surplus must be returned within 10 days, or a penalty of five times the difference applies.
Cost to do it: Representative and valuation fees; penalty exposure for misuse.
Example: A creditor owed S/ 1,000,000 that keeps machinery valued at S/ 1,200,000 must pay back S/ 200,000 within 10 days. / On a US$289,687 claim, wrongful repossession can cost twice the collateral's agreed value.Decreto Legislativo Nº 1400, Régimen de Garantía Mobiliaria (El Peruano 10 September 2018), Art. 48, art. 49, art. 51, art. 52 and art. 58, 2018-09-10 official text · verified 2026-10-28

6. A mortgage encumbers real property to secure any obligation, own or of a third party, without dispossession, and gives the creditor rights of pursuit, preference and judicial sale. It is valid only if granted by the owner or an authorized person, secures a determined or determinable obligation, and is for a determined or determinable amount registered in the property registry.
Cost to do it: Notarial deed and SUNARP registration fees (registry fees covered in the real estate section).
Example: A bank financing a warehouse registers a S/ 5,000,000 mortgage on the property title in SUNARP. / A mortgage registered for S/ 5,000,000 (US$1,448,436) secures up to that amount only.Código Civil, Decreto Legislativo Nº 295 (published 25 July 1984), Art. 1097 and art. 1099, 1984-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-28

7. A trust transfers assets to a trustee to form a separate trust estate subject to fiduciary ownership for a specific purpose; the estate does not answer for debts of the trustee, the settlor or their successors. Trustees must be banks and other multiple operations firms, COFIDE, licensed trust companies and certain insurers and supervised institutions. Trusts last at most 30 years, with limited exceptions. In a security trust, the lender is repaid from the sale of the trust estate as the contract provides, or directly from cash in it, and the same entity cannot be both trustee and creditor.
Cost to do it: Trustee fees; a licensed trust company needs base capital of S/ 1,356,000 (US$392,816).
Example: A project lender takes security through a trust over the plant and receivables held by a Peruvian bank acting as trustee, not by the lending bank itself. / In a syndicated US$100 million loan, the facility agent's affiliate cannot be trustee if it is also a lender of record.Ley Nº 26702, art. 241, art. 242 (as amended by Ley Nº 29654), art. 251, art. 253 and art. 274, Art. 241, art. 242, art. 251, art. 253 and art. 274, 1996-12-09 official text · verified 2026-10-28

Asset	Security	Perfection	Source
Inventory, receivables, equipment, shares, IP, cash flows	Garantía mobiliaria	SIGM electronic notice (or possession or control)	DL 1400 art. 4, 34 to 36
Land and buildings	Mortgage	SUNARP property registry	Código Civil art. 1097 and 1099
Any asset pool	Security trust	Transfer to licensed trustee	Ley 26702 art. 241 and 274
Book entry securities	Under settlement institution rules	Annotation at the settlement institution	DL 1400 art. 5

Collateral toolkit in Peru

Worked example

Equipment finance: a lender advances S/ 3,452,000 (US$1,000,000) for a new press, files a purchase money SIGM notice before delivery, and ranks first on the press ahead of the borrower's earlier all asset lender.
Appropriation: on default, the creditor keeps collateral valued under the agreed method at S/ 1,200,000 against a S/ 1,000,000 debt and refunds S/ 200,000 within 10 days.

Step by step

Search the SIGM for prior notices against the debtor.
Sign the security agreement in writing, describing assets or categories and, if wanted, out of court enforcement and appropriation terms, appointing an independent representative.
File the SIGM notice immediately; for purchase money security, file before the debtor takes possession and notify earlier inventory lenders.
For land, sign a notarial mortgage deed and register it in SUNARP; for complex deals, use a trust with a separate licensed trustee.
Calendar notice renewals and cancel notices within three business days after repayment.

Common traps

The creditor cannot act as its own sale representative.
Book entry securities are outside the SIGM and follow settlement institution rules.
Wrongful repossession costs twice the agreed collateral value; keeping a surplus costs five times the difference.

Sources

← Financial consumer protection and credit bureaus in Peru: effective cost disclosure, prepayment without penalty, payment imputation, complaints, Indecopi fines, the SBS risk registry and private credit bureausLeasing and factoring in Peru: financial leasing under Decreto Legislativo 299, lessor licensing and lessee protections, the negotiable invoice as a transferable title, the 8 day acceptance rule and factoring companies →

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