Tala, Zenka Risk Banning From Playstore

Digital lenders in the country are decrying the delay by the Central Bank of Kenya in releasing licenses to digital lenders in the country.

The Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Act (the “Amendment Act”) was passed into law on December 07, 2021 with December 23, 2021 set as the date it was to officially take effect in the Country.

So far, the Central Bank of Kenya has offered licenses to 10 players, with a majority of the newly awarded licenses going to players who have been in operation for less than two years locking out market leaders.

Some of the licensed operators include Mwanzo Credit and Rewot Ciro, who opened a shop in the country in January 2021. The other is My Wage Pay, who started operations in July 2021. Other players like Kweli Credit, which had not started disbursing loans have ironically been awarded   CBK’s approval.

Industry leaders, including Tala, Zenka and Oye mobile have not been awarded with licenses to operate despite their continued operations in the country meaning that they might be deregistered from the Playstore as Google now demands clearance certificates from the government to allow the lenders to operate.