•Mumbi said their aim is to make sure the borrowers are assisted as well as to maintain a long term relationship with their customers.
•Major players in the digital money lending space include Tala, Branch, M-Shwari, M-Coop and IMoney.
Digital lender, Tala, has said they rely on Credit Reference Bureau to ensure the credit history of their customers is monitored.
In an interview on NTV on Wednesday, Annstella Mumbi, Senior Growth Manager at Tala, urged Kenyans to embrace the CRB as it gives them an upper hand when borrowing money.
Mumbi said their aim is to make sure the borrowers are assisted as well as to maintain a long term relationship with their customers.
“As Tala, we are not interested in listing people in CRB, we are interested in building relationships with consumers,” Mumbi said.
“A lot of Kenyans see CRB listing as a bad thing but it is actually a good thing. It is where your credit history gets to exist in a formal landscape such that when you go to another formal lender in the market they are able to access your credit history.”
Mumbi said when one pays their loans in time their credit portfolio starts to look so good but if they fail to adhere to the loan terms, they get listed.
Other players in the digital money lending space include Branch, M-Shwari, M-Coop and IMoney. They were ordered by the Central Bank of Kenya to give a 30-day notice to their customers before their names are forwarded to CRBs.
In March, the Central Bank of Kenya officially gazetted the digital lenders regulations paving way for their oversight and supervision.
It focuses on addressing high-interest rates, unethical debt collection practices, and the misuse of personal data by some digital lenders.
CBK governor Patrick Njoroge said the Digital Credit Providers regulations seek to address public concerns given the significant growth of digital lending, particularly through mobile phones.
"The regulations provide for inter alia the licensing, governance, and lending practices of DCPs. They also provide for consumer protection, credit information sharing, and outline the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations of DCPs," Njoroge said.
He said that the regulations will sanitise the sector prone to consumer abuse in total disregard for the country's National Payment System.