The Federal Government has stated that it will provide a list of unlawful (unregistered) digital lending apps operating in Nigeria through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
It also stated that two lawful (registered) lending apps would be removed from the Google Play Store for harassing Nigerians.
The FCCPC announced on Thursday that it had put digital money lenders who had refused or failed to register under its standards to its watchlist for intensive monitoring and action.
The FCCPC stated in a statement signed by Executive Vice Chairman/CEO Babatunde Irukera, “The commission has also placed digital money lenders that have refused or failed to register under the guidelines on its watchlist for strict surveillance and necessary action.”
“The commission’s website will contain a list of those digital money lenders.”
“The Commission will continue to scrutinize listed DMLs and update the list regularly to ensure that only businesses that strictly comply with the spirit and intent of the regulatory framework are permitted to do business legally in Nigeria.”
It explicitly advised consumers to only use digital money lenders on its approved list in order to protect themselves from falling prey to unlawful and forbidden lending and recovery methods. It asked Nigerians to use caution and prudence while choosing digital money lenders.
The FCCPC named the permanently delisted digital lenders as Orange Loan, Purple Credit Limited, Sycamore Integrated Solutions Limited, and their corresponding applications, Getloan and Camelloan.
It claimed that after looking into the apps, it made this conclusion.
The commission stated, “In the course of the commission’s ongoing investigations and tracking of these illegally operating digital money lenders, the commission came across deception by at least two otherwise legally registered digital money lenders on the commission’s approval list.”
It was observed that the companies had also used APK to lure borrowers toward an illegal and unregulated method and practice.
The FCCPC has registered (completely or partially) and authorized 180 loan apps to run in Nigeria.
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