By Rukayat Moisemhe

The Money Lenders Association has commended the Federal Government’s effort to protect borrowers from the illegal operations of unregistered and unlicensed digital loan companies.

Mr Gbemi Adelekan, President of the Association, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

According to him, government’s move to regulate the lenders will help change public perceptions of short-term loan providers in Nigeria.

NAN reports that government, through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), had, on April 14, published a list of approved digital lenders licensed to operate in Nigeria.

The FCCPC publication titled: “Status of Registration of Fintech/Digital Companies with FCCPC on the Limited Interim Regulatory/Registration Framework and Guidelines for Digital Lending 2022”, showed that 129 companies received full approval.

The commission also gave conditional approval to 48 companies.

Adelekan, also the Managing Director of Trafalgar (Kwikpay Credit), one of the approved digital lenders, said the benefits of digital lenders’ regulation by government would make short-term lenders to be more responsible.

He noted that not all lenders engaged in unwholesome acts of deception, fraud, threats and disseminate personal information of customers to families and friends when loans are not repaid as at when due.

“With the regulation by the government, most of these illegal operators should be eradicated online soon,” he said.

Adelekan said that asides protecting borrowers, the expected benefits of the regulation by the the government, through the FCCPC, include better access to loans, better finance management and greater transparency.

He said that the level of intervention by the government in the digital loan industry would increase consumer confidence as people now know that any problem they encounter would be dealt with by the FCCPC.

“Borrowers are more likely to have better access to loans and credit to support livelihood enhancement and economic development.

“Borrowers can have the peace of mind that their data will be used by the lender responsibly, and the terms and conditions of the loan should be explicitly shown before a loan is approved by the lender.

“Digital lenders now have to complete an affordability and credit check on all applicants which reduces the chance of those unable to repay their loan amount from getting themselves further into debt.

“It is evident that applying for your loan needs from a licensed credit provider like KwikPay Credit, can be a great way to secure some extra cash in a financial emergency,” he said.