Kenya's digital lending sector has grown to 281 regulated providers, after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) licensed 29 additional digital credit providers (DCPs) this week.
The regulator announced the new licenses in a statement on Wednesday, issued under Section 59(2) of the Central Bank of Kenya Act. They follow another batch of 25 DCPs licensed in July.
CBK said it has now received more than 900 applications since March 2022, when it began licensing and supervising digital lenders, a mandate introduced after years of public complaints about unregulated operators.
Those complaints centred on high borrowing costs, aggressive and unethical debt collection, and the misuse of borrowers' personal data — including contacting people listed in a customer's phonebook to pressure them into repaying.
The scale of the sector underlines why oversight matters. CBK said licensed DCPs had disbursed 9,596,509 loans worth Ksh165.1 billion (about $1.28 billion) by August, an average of roughly Ksh17,200 per loan.
Lenders operate mainly through mobile apps and USSD codes, offering products ranging from education and development loans to short-term personal loans, asset financing and business loans.
With 281 licences issued against more than 900 applications, a large pool of applicants remains in the pipeline. CBK said most are still to submit the documentation needed for their applications to be assessed, and urged them to do so promptly.
The regulatory framework, introduced through amendments to the CBK Act, brought non-deposit-taking digital lenders under central bank supervision for the first time, requiring them to hold a licence before operating.
CBK said members of the public can report suspected unregulated digital lenders to the bank via dcps@centralbank.go.ke.
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