CRB Listing: Digital Lending Apps Count Losses After CBK Order
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Digital lending applications, which have been known for their ruthless credit collection strategies, have been left counting losses after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) banned them from listing defaulters on the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB).
The lenders were cut from CRB in October 2020 a move that led them to a percent decrease in the amount they were lending at exorbitant interest rates.
The regulator overruled the digital lenders authorization to share data on CRBs that banned 337 unmonitored mobile lenders from submitting the names of loan defaulters to the bureau.
CRB freeze halves digital lenders Sh2bn montly loans
Tuesday February 23 2021
By OTIATO GUGUYU
Summary
Top digital lenders cut lending to Sh2 billion a month after the Central Bank of Kenya kicked them out of credit reference bureaus last year.
Digital Lender Association of Kenya (DLAK) chairman Kevin Mutiso said member firms were lending Sh4 billion monthly before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Their CRB move, he said, had denied members borrower profiles to make quick lending decisions and left them without recourse on defaulters forcing them to cut loans by half.
Top digital lenders cut lending to Sh2 billion a month after the Central Bank of Kenya kicked them out of credit reference bureaus last year.