Mobile Loan Apps Face Deregistration in CBK Reforms
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) building in Nairobi.
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke
The Central Bank of Kenya has proposed a number of far-reaching reforms that will see it regulate and deregister rogue mobile lenders that have crept into the Kenyan money lending market.
The Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill of 2020 seeks to regulate mobile loan rates that have seen many Kenyans plunge into huge debts. Data by Metropol Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) revealed that 14,035,718 Kenyans had been blacklisted by January 2021.
Further, the proposed law seeks to weed out unscrupulous lenders who get involved in unethical practices such as money laundering, illegal acquiring of customer s private data, and shaming of defaulted borrowers.
THE STANDARD By
Wanaina Wambu |
March 8th 2021 at 21:34:19 GMT +0300
Digital lenders have now backed proposed regulations terming it a good move to push the loan prices down.
Digital Lenders Association of Kenya (DLAK) Board Chairman Kevin Mutiso said that the regulations, that will see them fall under Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) supervision put all players on an equal footing and a sign of maturity in the industry.
“We price our loans based on risk and a lot of the risks will be reduced by standardising certain things. Once the new standards take root we expect revision on the loan price,” said Mutiso.
Thousands of British investors lost cash in the German property scheme
Credit: Lorna Milligan
Thousands of British savers have been pushed to the brink of financial ruin after placing their money into a toxic German investment scheme that later collapsed.
More than £1.5bn has been invested in German Property Group, more commonly known as Dolphin Trust, but the firm, which sold loan notes to fund the purchase and renovation of derelict German buildings, filed for bankruptcy last July. The group lured investors with the promise of annual returns of 15pc and said a £100,000 investment would return £60,000 within five years.
However, payments began defaulting in 2018 and British investors now fear their life savings could be lost altogether. The German Property Group Creditors Association, a group of British investors, said £320m of Britons’ cash was invested in the scheme, making it larger than London Capital & Finance, another bond scheme that collapsed owing investors millio