(a) Except as otherwise provided in Subsection (c) of this section, an initial financing statement may reflect an assignment of all of the secured party's power to authorize an amendment to the financing statement by providing the name and mailing address of the assignee as the name and address of the secured party.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in Subsection (c) of this section, a secured party of record may assign of record all or part of its power to authorize an amendment to a financing statement by filing in the filing office an amendment of the financing statement which:

(1) identifies, by its file number, the initial financing statement to which it relates;

(2) provides the name of the assignor; and

(3) provides the name and mailing address of the assignee.

(c) An assignment of a record of a security interest in a fixture covered by a record of a mortgage which is effective as a financing statement filed as a fixture filing pursuant to the provisions of Subsection (c) of Section 55-9-502 NMSA 1978 may be made only by an assignment of record of the mortgage in the manner provided by law of this state other than the Uniform Commercial Code.

History: 1978 Comp., § 55-9-514, enacted by Laws 2001, ch. 139, § 85.

OFFICIAL COMMENTS

UCC Official Comments by ALI & the NCCUSL. Reproduced with permission of the PEB for the UCC. All rights reserved.

1. Source. Former section 9-405.

2. Assignments. This section provides a permissive device whereby a secured party of record may effectuate an assignment of its power to affect a financing statement. It may also be useful for a secured party who has assigned all or part of its security interest or agricultural lien and wishes to have the fact noted of record, so that inquiries concerning the transaction would be addressed to the assignee. See section 9-502, comment 2. Upon the filing of an assignment, the assignee becomes the "secured party of record" and may authorize the filing of a continuation statement, termination statement, or other amendment. Note that under section 9-310(c) no filing of an assignment is required as a condition of continuing the perfected status of the security interest against creditors and transferees of the original debtor. However, if an assignment is not filed, the assignor remains the secured party of record, with the power (even if not the right) to authorize the filing of effective amendments. See sections 9-509(d) and 9-511(c).

Where a record of a mortgage is effective as a financing statement filed as a fixture filing (section 9-502(c)), then an assignment of record of the security interest may be made only in the manner in which an assignment of record of the mortgage may be made under local real property law.

3. Comparison to Prior Law. Most of the changes reflected in this section are for clarification or to embrace medium-neutral drafting. As a general matter, this section preserves the opportunity given by former section 9-405 to assign a security interest of record in one of two different ways. Under subsection (a), a secured party may assign all of its power to affect a financing statement by naming an assignee in the initial financing statement. The secured party of record may accomplish the same result under subsection (b) by making a subsequent filing. Subsection (b) also may be used for an assignment of only some of the secured party of record's power to affect a financing statement, e.g., the power to affect the financing statement as it relates to particular items of collateral or as it relates to an undivided interest in a security interest in all the collateral. An initial financing statement may not be used to change the secured party of record under these circumstances. However, an amendment adding the assignee as a secured party of record may be used.

Effective dates. — Laws 2001, ch. 139, § 155 makes the act effective July 1, 2001.

Decisions under former Section 55-9-405 NMSA 1978. — In light of the similarity of this section and former Section 55-9-405 NMSA 1978, annotations decided under former Section 55-9-405 NMSA 1978 have been included in the annotations in this section.

Continuity of financing statement. — The assignee of a security interest was entitled to the priority of the original financing statement since there was no lapse in sequence of filings of amendments, assignments, and continuations, and the assignee was lawfully entitled to all rights in the financing statement. NationsCredit Com. Corp. v. Camp Town, Inc., 197 B.R. 139 (Bankr. D.N.M. 1996) (decided under former law).