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NAIROBI (Xinhua) –
An Independent Digital Increase
loan applications in Kenya saw commercial banks in the
East Africa Nation launch online platforms similar to
protect their market.
There are
to 25 independent mobile loan applications in Kenya, some
without a license, which disburses between US $ 0.50 and
$ 1,000 in loans to applicants. Popular apps in Kenya
include Branch and Tala.
About 6.5
million Kenyans are hooked to mobile loans and half
of them are repeat borrowers, according to the latest data
of a joint survey of the Central Bank of Kenya, Kenya
National Bureau of Statistics and FSD-Kenya.
The mobile
applications charge a single interest rate of between 7%
and 10%, with loans per month.
lucrative activity of the loan application attracted banks in the
platforms as they also seek to protect their loans
the company, which faces stiff competition.
commercial banks that offered loans
applications in the last two years include Kenya Commercial Bank
(KCB-Mpesa), Equity Bank (Eazzyloan) and Commercial Bank
of Africa (CBA) (Mshwari).
Plus
however, join the fray with the last inbound
being the housing finance group, which unveiled last week
his platform.
L & # 39; mortgage
lender has unveiled the app called HF Whiz that will allow
their clients to borrow between $ 10 and 500 to
a monthly interest rate of 1.1%.
The loan
will attract a facilitation fee of 6.6%, which
at the total cost of borrowing at 7.7%, which
same as what independent loan applications charge.
Other
commercial banks charge between 1.5% and 3%
facilitation fee per cent above the 1.1 to 2 percent
per month of interest.
"Our
Customers will also be able to transfer up to 2,000
dollars a day, in addition to making deposits directly
to their bank accounts, "said the bank in a statement.
Similarly,
ABC launched a second digital banking platform last week
which allows customers to borrow up to 30,000
dollars, the highest of all digital platforms.
While
Mshwari focuses on small borrowers, the new platform
targets large borrowers who will also be able to obtain
discovered of $ 1,000.
Barclays
Bank launched its app in March nicknamed Timiza
allows customers and non-clients to quickly access
mobile loans.
Henry
Wandera, a lecturer in economics noted that banks are
join the mobile loan melee because the sector is
not subject to the strict loan rules of the Central Bank.
"Currently,
banks can only charge customers 13.5% a year
on the loans but through the applications, this percentage increases up to
at 84 percent a year if the same individual borrowers
cash every month across the platforms. They do not have
choice but to ward off intense competition from the
providers of digital loan services, "he said.
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