Senior Bank Loan

A debt financing obligation issued by a bank or similar financial institution to a company or individual that holds legal claim to the borrower's assets above all other debt obligations. The loan is considered senior to all other claims against the borrower, which means that in the event of a bankruptcy the senior bank loan is the first to be repaid, before all other interested parties receive repayment.

Senior bank loans are usually secured via a lien against the assets of the borrower. At the time the loan is made, there typically tend to be no other existing liens on the borrower's assets, or at least not on any of the assets being secured by the senior bank loan. Thus, if the borrower should enter a state of bankruptcy in the future, the assets used to secure the senior bank loan must be used to repay the senior bank loan before other creditors, preferred stockholders or common stockholders receive any payment.