James Wanzala
The Digital Lenders Association of Kenya (DLAK), has thrown its weight behind steps towards regulating the...
industry.
The discourse it says should focus primarily on data privacy, business
and consumer protection, as well as reporting requirements.
According to the body, consumers’ privacy protection and empowering
users with better control and visibility over their personal information
is crucial to set an appropriate course for further development of the
industry.
Ethical guidelines on gathering and using customer data or collecting
debts in a customer-friendly manner have already been incorporated among
the association’s members in the put-into-effect Code of Conduct.
“Every customer has a Constitutional right to privacy. Digital lenders
must incorporate this integral fact into their policies and processes
and protect consumers from unnecessarily revealing personal
information,’’ said DLAK spokesperson Kevin Mutiso.
Key to this protection DLAK says, would be to institutionalise reporting
to credit reference bureaus as the formal channel where borrower
history is shared in a legal manner which will further open up access to
credit for many unbanked low-income populations.
Visible credit data points will also play a big role in guiding ethical
debt collection practices to protect consumers from rogue and abusive
debt collectors.
“We strongly support the idea of developing a common approach to credit
data for all lenders whether they are banks, microfinance institutions,
digital or not. This will enhance financial inclusion and will increase
customer protection furthermore,’’ Mutiso said.
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