SQE1 · Business Law & Practice

Crystallisation of floating charges

A trading company has granted a bank a floating charge over its whole undertaking. The charge instrument provides that the charge will crystallise on the occurrence of certain events. The company falls behind on payments. The company has not stopped trading, no receiver or administrator has been appointed, no winding-up resolution has been passed, and the bank has not yet taken any step under the charge. A junior member of the company's finance team asks whether the floating charge has crystallised at this point so that the bank now has a fixed charge over the specific assets.