Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge last week barred a number of mobile-based lenders from using the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs), denying them a critical tool in assessing creditworthiness of a potential borrower.
Besides unregulated mobile-based lenders, Central Bank of Kenya CBK also withdrew the approvals granted to unregulated credit-only lenders as third party credit information providers to CRBs.
“The withdrawal is in response to numerous public complaints over misuse of the credit Information System by the unregulated digital and credit-only lenders, and particularly their poor responsiveness to customer complaints.
Thus, unregulated digital and credit-only lenders will no longer submit credit information on their borrowers to CRBs,” said CBK in a statement.
This is a blow to hundreds of fintech credit providers such as Branch International and Tala, which had become household names with nearly every functional smartphone in Kenya having a digital lending app.
List of mobile loan apps that have been barred from accessing CRB services.
1. Branch