Writing On The Wall For Digital Lenders As CBK Swings To Action

Digital Credit Providers (DCP) famously known as digital lenders or mobile loan apps have been given up to January 21, 2022, to register with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) or face closure.

This follows a Presidential assent on December 7, 2021, on the Central Bank of Kenya
(Amendment) Act, 2021, which became effective on December 23, 2021.

The Amendment provides the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) with the powers to license and oversight the previously unregulated digital credit providers.

“Correspondingly, CBK announces the issuance of draft Digital Credit Providers Regulations
and invites public comments. With the recent advances in technology and ongoing innovations, lending through digital channels, particularly mobile phones, has grown significantly in Kenya. However, concerns have been raised by the public about the predatory practices of the unregulated digital credit providers, and in particular, their high cost, unethical debt collection practices, and the abuse of personal information,” said CBK in a statement.

The Amendment requires CBK to publish Regulations within three months, i.e., by
March 23, 2022, and accordingly CBK has developed the draft Regulations for public
consultation.

The Regulations provide for inter alia the licensing, governance, and credit operations of Digital Credit Providers (DCPs). They further provide for consumer protection, credit information sharing, and elaborate on the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations of DCPs.

“In line with the public participation requirements, CBK invites interested members of the public to provide comments on the draft Regulations that can be downloaded from the Central Bank of Kenya website. The written submissions or representations may be forwarded to the Director, Bank Supervision, P.O. Box 60000-00200, Nairobi; hand-delivered to the Central Bank of Kenya Headquarters, Haile Selassie Avenue, Nairobi; or emailed to fin@centralbank.go.ke; to be received not later than Friday, January 21, 2022, at 5.00 p.m,” added the statement.

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