A banker's lien is a legal right arise in many common law jurisdictions of a bank to exercise a lien over any property in the custody of the bank as security.
The precise effect of a banker's lien varies according to the laws of a particular jurisdiction.
[2] Whilst most common law liens normally only give the lienee a passive right to retain the property, unusually, the banker's lien permits the bank to sell the relevant property.
[3] The lien does not generally extend to intangible rights, including credit balances on accounts.
However those credit balances may be subject to the banker's right to combine accounts.