Kenyan Parliament suspends regulations on lenders
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Kenyans.co.ke
Kenya’s Committee on Delegated Legislation has ordered the Central Bank of Kenya to suspend the rollout of the 2025 regulations on non-deposit-taking lenders, which required institutions with more than 20 million Kenyan shillings in capital to obtain a licence. MPs denounce excessive administrative powers and disproportionate penalties, according to Kenyans.co.ke.
Kenya’s Parliament suspended the rollout of new Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) rules for digital lenders on 12 November. The decision was taken by the National Assembly’s Committee on Delegated Legislation, which cited excessive administrative powers, penalties deemed unlawful and inconsistencies in the drafting of the regulations, reports Kenyans.co.ke.
The 2025 regulations were to require companies with initial capital of more than 20 million Kenyan shillings to obtain CBK approval and impose a registration procedure on other lenders. They notably targeted mobile loan applications, buy-now-pay-later companies and asset-financing firms, according to the CBK.
The draft also prohibited threats, violence, insults and the use of borrowers’ telephone contacts to humiliate them in cases of default. It provided for penalties of up to 2 million shillings or three times the gain made or loss avoided, as well as a daily fine of 10,000 shillings while the offence continued.
MPs are challenging, in particular, a provision allowing the CBK to require any other document or prescribe any other function without clearly defined limits. The central bank says the rules are intended to extend its oversight and protect Kenyans from abusive lending practices, according to Kenyans.co.ke.
