Kenya's data commissioner, Immaculate Kassait.

Foreign digital lenders that violate Kenyan data privacy regulations present considerable regulatory issues for the country's data commissioner, Immaculate Kassait.

Kassait stated this week that overseas digital lenders who breach Kenyan data privacy rules are providing a challenge to her office, citing the lack of a clear global framework for data protection enforcement.

The Data Protection Commissioner's Office is now seeking mutual legal assistance from international governments to permanently shut down non-compliant applications as "notorious digital lenders" continue to breach Kenya's Data Protection Act.

She went on to explain that according to the Competition Authority of Kenya's report for the fiscal year ending June 2024, the financial sector—primarily digital lenders—accounted for roughly one-third of all consumer complaints lodged, with 197 out of 668 total grievances.

According to the Fintech Association of Kenya, while international agreements exist to combat terrorism, money laundering, and corruption through mechanisms such as the Budapest Convention on cyber-crime, there are no equivalent protocols that specifically address cross-border data privacy violations, making it difficult for Kenyan authorities to hold foreign digital lending apps accountable for harassing borrowers.