The Federal Competition and Consumer Agency has ordered Google Play Store to pull down four money lending companies for “escalating unethical, obnoxious and unscrupulously exploitative practices in the industry.”
The affected money lending firms are Maxi Credit, ChaCha,
Here4U and SoftPay, a statement signed by Babatunde Irukera, the commission’s
Chief Executive Officer said.
Mr Irukera gave the order during an enforcement operation in
Ikeja area of Lagos on Thursday.
He had in March led a similar operation to tackle “possible
violation” of consumer rights where at least seven loan companies including
Soko Loan were raided.
The commission’s boss said that some lending companies
including Soko Loan who have been subject of investigation “have devised
methods to leverage on technology and other financial services alternatives to
circumvent account freezing and app suspension orders.
“With the operations today, the Commission expects
appreciable additional reduction in these unacceptable practices.”
Directives on money lending services
“The Commission has entered further orders to Google Play
Store to draw down the following (money lending) apps which were discovered to
be created and operating as a circumvention of existing investigative
interventions; Maxi Credit, Here4U, ChaCha and SoftPay,” the statement reads.
“For apps not on the Play Store, the Commission continues to
trace what platforms they are hosted on in order to disable them; the
Commission invites any information from the public in this regard.”
The Commission also ordered all operating payment systems
including Flutterwave, Opay, Paystack and Monify to immediately desist from
providing payment or transaction services to money lending firms under investigation
or sought the commission’s approvals.
“The Commission has also ordered telecommunication/
technology companies (including Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)) to cease and
desist providing server/hosting or other key services such as connectivity to
disclosed or known lenders who are targets/subjects of investigation or
otherwise operating without regulatory approval,” the statement reads.
Mr. Irukera said that a regulatory framework to promote
fair, “transparent and mutually beneficial alternative lending opportunities
apart from traditional lending to consumers” is now available.
“It requires permission to proceed in digital lending; it
provides a limited moratorium period for existing businesses to comply in order
to continue in digital lending,” he explained.
“The Guidelines also mandate different (money lending)
service providers in the relevant ecosystem (such as banks, access/download
platforms or stores, technology providers and payment systems) to require
regulatory approval before providing services.”