Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Google has consented to remove from Playstore non-licenced digital lending apps used in Pakistan.
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Executive Director Khalida Habib told a workshop on Tuesday that the commission has issued guidelines to address matters linked to data breaches and coercive recovery techniques of registered digital lending firms.
She said that Google has agreed to ban all non-licensed digital lending apps from the Google Play Store, most of which operate outside Pakistan.
Habib noted that the State Bank and the SECP coordinated, after which the list would be finalised to remove the apps.
Khalida said, “Under the new rules, March 27 is the cut-off date for the digital lending companies to upgrade their apps, and the final list of apps to be removed would be made after it.”
She said that in January 2023, 58 illegal digital lending apps were removed from Google’s Playstore after negotiations with them.
The SECP has taken up the issue with the concerned regulatory authorities, including the National Telecommunication and Information Technology Security Board, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the State Bank, and FIA, as well as with Apple and Google for the removal of illegal apps, she said.
In Pakistan, only 10 licenced non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) operate legally to lend money. Various regulatory frameworks govern these apps as they come under the domain of SECP.
The SECP official said, “A complete white-list app of NBFCs and the banks would be prepared and forwarded to Google by the end of next month.”
Several illegal firms have surfaced due to the expansion of digital lending apps enabling poor people to get short-term loans without providing any security. These companies engage in unethical and coercive lending methods.
After several complaints, the SECP for consumer protection issued ‘Circular 15’. Before loan distribution, the circular required the lenders to make the bare minimum of mandatory disclosures.
The NBFCs disbursed loans of Rs63.58 billion from January to November 2022, and the authorities anticipate that this sum will increase in 2023.
