FG approves 173 loan apps, bars illegal digital banks

The federal government has approved 173 digital lending applications to operate in the country.

The government gave the approval through its agency oversighting that area- Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

While the FCCPC gave conditional authorisations to 54 loan applications, 119 were fully approved by the commission.

It noted on Monday that companies without an approval would not be able to operate in the country.

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Some of the approved loan applications listed by the FCCPC included Branch International Financial Services Limited, Fairmoney Micro Finance Bank, Pivo Technology Limited, Renmoney Microfinance Bank Limited, Carbon Microfinance Bank Limited, and Creditwave Finance Limited, among others.

The commission added that loan apps without its approval would be removed from Play Store by Google and unavailable for download.

While speaking on the approach to save people against digital lending apps in August 2022, the FCCPC said: “In addition to the enforcement action(s) and in furtherance of the desire to promote fair, transparent and mutually beneficial alternative lending opportunities apart from traditional lending to consumers, the inter-agency Joint Regulatory and Enforcement Task Force has developed and mutually adopted a Limited Interim Regulatory/ Registration Framework and Guidelines for Digital Lending, 2022 as the first and interim step to establishing a clear regulatory framework.

“This becomes enforceable immediately. It requires permission to proceed in digital lending; it provides a limited moratorium period for existing businesses to comply in order to continue in digital lending.

“The guidelines also mandate different service providers in the relevant ecosystem (such as banks, access/download platforms or stores, technology providers and payment systems) to require regulatory approval before providing services.”