bank to license and regulate the micro-lenders, as well as prescribe capital ... deserving Kenyan youth,” the agency said in … These new rules could force these mobile lenders to disclose interest rates and transaction fees before giving loans. The application offers real-time quotes; newsfeeds; research facilities, and a chat feature which enables a customer to make direct contact with the Customer Service Team during trading days (Monday to Friday). The predicament the Zambians find themselves in got me thinking about our own situation here. “The principal objective of this bill is to amend the Central bank of Kenya Act to regulate the conduct of providers of digital financial products and services,” reads a notice on the bill. The proposal to amend the law to require lenders to first seize all the assets of a borrower before going after those of guarantors is long overdue and a move in the right direction. “An institution and a third party credit information provider shall notify the customer within one month before a loan becomes non-performing that the institution shall submit to a bureau the information on the loan immediately it becomes non-performing,” reads the draft rules. This way, the economy will gain as well as the creditors themselves as more borrowing means increased margins for them. In October 2020, the Kenya Bankers Association will hold the Africa Regional e-Conference for Leading Women in Banking and Finance. Public finances are in the red, with a huge hole in the vaults aggravated by Corona by mainly caused by crippling revenue shortfalls and a dearth in external financing. Apparently, creditors have a free hand to cherry-pick on the assets available for them to seize, using the current lopsided law to justify their actions. The loan default rate at Kenyan banks rose steadily between September 2015 to June 2018, and have hovered between 12-13 per cent of gross loans for the following two years. But is Kenya likely to apply for relief under the G20 debt service suspension initiative? Young people are most vulnerable to the lending platforms Guarantors appear to have been the soft target when borrowers default on repaying their loans. “An institution and a third party credit information provider shall notify the customer within one month before a loan becomes non-performing that the institution shall submit to a bureau the information on the loan immediately it becomes non-performing,” reads the draft rules. … Apparently, the administration also fears that a deal with the G20 may plunge the country into a conditionality regime it might find politically unpalatable to implement thereby presenting with antagonistic diplomatic relations with its key Western allies. Proposed law on loan guarantors is overdue. Columnists Zambia loan default lesson for Kenya “The bureau shall, within 14 days, conduct investigation—If the bureau does not complete its investigation within 21 days, it shall delete the disputed information as requested by the customer,” the draft states. CBK governor Patrick Njoroge has on several occasions said banks have been using the credit score as a tool for punishing customers instead of offering better rates to those with good scores. In what will be another win for borrowers, any time a customer disputes a credit report, CRBs will have to immediately notify lenders of the dispute so that the report does not continue being used before the difference is resolved. Use of credit scores has yielded little in helping customers with good history with many loans averaging the same price despite the different scores. A move by Members of Parliament to propose a law that will bring all mobile loan apps under the regulation of Central Bank of Kenya has received support from experts in the financial sector. The CBK has published draft CRB regulations 2019 that prohibit banks, microfinance institutions as well as savings and credit co-operative societies (Saccos) from submitting the names of defaulters for listing without their knowledge. According to Business Daily, the legislation will also enable the Central Bank to monitor non-performing loans, capping the limit at not twice the amount of the defaulted loan while protecting consumers from predatory lending by digital loan platforms. CBK defines an adverse action notice as any that is issued by a lender to a customer conveying denial, cancellation or increase in any charges related to an existing or applied loan based on a CRB report. In the statement announcing notice of default, Lusaka admitted that suspension of payments arises from economic pressures that far predate Covid-19. We may be bracing for a string of similar cases across the region. Loan sharks are called "shylocks" in Kenya, and they are flourishing. This includes an increase of M-Shwari loan rates, blacklisting from the Central Bank of Kenya .