Piece by: Maureen Kinyanjui

17 March 2023

• The lenders had been accused of high repayment costs, unethical debt collection practices, and the abuse of personal information.

The Central Bank of Kenya has licensed additional 12 Digital Credit Providers, bringing the total to 34.

According to the CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge, licensing is in line with Section 59(2) of the Central Bank of Kenya Act (CBK Act).

"It is notified for information of the general public that in the exercise of the powers conferred by Regulation 5 (1) of the Central Bank of Kenya (Digital Credit Providers) Regulations, 2022, the Central Bank of Kenya has licensed the following entities as Digital CreditProviders, reads the gazette notice.

The licensed DCPs include;

Inventure Mobile Limited (Tala)
Jumo Kenya Limited
Letshego Kenya Limited
MFS Technologies Limited
M-Kopa Money Kenya Limited
Mycredit Limited
Natal Tech Company Limited
Ngao Credit Limited
Pezesha Africa Limited
Tenataka Enterprises Limited
Umoja Fanisi Limited and Zanifu Limited.

The licencing and oversight of DCPs were necessitated by concerns raised by Kenyans over the predatory practices of unregulated digital lenders.

The lenders had been accused of high repayment costs, unethical debt collection practices, and the abuse of personal information.

The CBK had earlier said in the licensing process, they have also involved other regulators and agencies, including the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.