Tag: Central Bank of Kenya

IMF Delays $238 Million Loan for Kenya

Editor
IMF

IMF Delays $238 Million Loan for Kenya  Kenya may need to find alternative sources to finance its current budget due to a delay by IMF [International Monetary Fund] in issuing it a 28 billion shilling loan ($238 million). Kenya included loan funds in the current fiscal year’s budget. Delay may see the nation seeking alternative budget financing. The funding is part of a $2.34 billion extended credit facility and extended fund facility that was agreed to by the IMF more than a year ago for budget support. The loan needs board approval…

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CBK Proposes law for mobile loan apps

Dianne Jacobs
MTN Rwanda

CBK Proposes law for mobile loan apps Digital app lending companies operating in Kenya are set up for a shake-up after the country’s central bank proposed new laws to regulate monthly interest rates levied on loans by digital lenders in a bid to stamp out what it deems predatory practices. If approved, digital lenders will require approval from the central bank to increase lending rates or launch new products. The move comes in the wake of mounting concern about the scale of predatory lending given the proliferation of startups offering…

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Central Bank of Kenya Declines to cap the free M-Pesa transactions to five

olivia Craig
M-Gas Mpesa Central Bank of Kenya

Kenya’s leading telco Safaricom has lost the bid to cap free M-Pesa transactions to five. This comes after subscribers split high-value transfers to avoid paying transfer fees, costing it billions of shillings in revenues. The company had petitioned the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to cap the number of multiple transactions between two numbers, according to a recent disclosure of conference call transcripts between Safaricom and investors seen by the Business Daily. Safaricom reported that customers were splitting high-value money transfers of as high as Sh60,000 to deals of below…

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Regulate? Mobile-based online lending firms may be money laundering channels says Central Bank of Kenya governor

olivia Craig
Mobile-based lenders pose money laundering risk, says CBK

Mobile-based online lending firms should be regulated to avoid their usage as channels for introducing illegally-obtained cash into the financial system, Central Bank of Kenya governor Patrick Njoroge has said. In a presentation to parliamentarians Wednesday, Dr Njoroge singled out Tala, Branch and Okash — three highly-popular digital money lenders — as credit-only mobile lending institutions that could be easily used to launder illicit cash. Money laundering, which involves transferring and disguising illegally obtained cash to make it look legitimate, is mostly used by criminals and the corrupt to clean…

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