Statement of position (personal assets and liabilities)

BY MICHAEL SHANG · SIXTEEN YEARS IN COMMERCIAL BANKING · UPDATED 2026-11-06

// THE SHORT ANSWER

A statement of position is a signed list of an individual's assets, liabilities, income and commitments, including guarantees already given, that a lender asks of a guarantor, a sole trader or a closely held business's owners; it is also called a statement of assets and liabilities. It shows what a personal guarantee could actually reach: a home worth US$1.2m with a US$500,000 mortgage, owned jointly with a spouse who has not guaranteed, may give the guarantor half of US$700,000 of equity, far less than the value printed. A lender checks the main items against title searches, statements and a credit report, and asks again at review, because assets move.

BASIS  Practitioner judgment from sixteen years in commercial banking, set out in How Bankers Think (Highbank Press, 2026). Every borrower on this site is a composite constructed for teaching, not a client. The market is mid-market commercial lending as practised in New Zealand and Australia; where a convention differs elsewhere, the page says so.