Mr Babatunde Irukera, chief executive officer of the Federal
Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), who disclosed this in
an interview with TVC on Monday, said the new regulations would address
Nigerians’ rising indebtedness to DMLs.
Irukera noted that the sector’s big problem is that DMLs
resort to abuse on loan recovery.
He added that implementing the Commission’s interim
framework has led to an 80 per cent reduction in harassment and defamatory
messages from loan apps.
“One of the big issues that we’re seeing is that there’s now
a significant level of loan default because people are not able to use these
unethical and inappropriate loan recovery mechanisms, and I’m insistent that
you cannot say to me that the only language Nigerians understand is to abuse
them. No, I disagree.
“We must necessarily do the work no matter how hard it is to
find a more sensible way to recover loans because I also agree that if these
digital money lenders are unable to recover their loans and drop out of the
market, it’s a consumer protection problem because of those who need those
types of short-term unsecured lending.
“So, we have to find the balance, and some of the
regulations that will come out in 2024 will be a broader approach to
responsible borrowing and lending by individuals and corporations”, he said.
According to the Commission, it has approved 211 digital
money lenders.