|
Kenyatta's office said in a statement he had signed into law the
Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill.
"The amended Central Bank Act, 2021, gives the Central Bank of
Kenya powers to license digital lenders in the country as well
as ensure the existence of fair and non-discriminatory practices
in the credit market," it said.
The law gives the central bank power to control the lenders
following complaints from borrowers who can pay annualised
interest rates of more than 100%.
Users of mobile phone-based micro-lenders, which include the
Silicon Valley-backed Tala, have surged to 2 million in 2019,
from 200,000 in 2016, the central bank says.
Up to now, the dozens of lenders were not covered by any of the
existing laws.
"This is to provide the central bank with the authority to
regulate the digital lenders. This is something which has been
long overdue, that we've come all this way and we are looking
forward to it becoming law and to ourselves fixing this lacuna
that has been here for quite some time," Central Bank Governor
Patrick Njoroge told a virtual news conference in late November.
Apart from charging high interest rates, consumers say the
digital lenders have been infringing on their data privacy by
bombarding the contacts they have saved on their mobile phones
with calls and messages when they default.
Njoroge ruled out using the law to regulate interest rates the
lenders would charge.
"If you mean ourselves having caps, obviously the answer is no.
We are not going to that part of the world again," he said,
referring to commercial lending rate caps that ran between 2016
and 2019.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa, editing by Ed Osmond)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
