Nigerian consumer protection agency orders Google to remove major financial firms from App Store

The Federal Competition and Consumer Affairs Agency has ordered the Google Play Store to remove four money-lending companies for "increasing unethical, heinous and unscrupulous practices of exploitation in the industry ".

The companies affected are Maxi Credit, ChaCha, Here4U and SoftPay, according to a statement signed by Babatunde Irukera, the chief executive of the commission said.

Mr. Irukera gave the order during an execution operation in the Ikeja neighborhood of Lagos on Thursday.

He had carried out a similar operation in March to fight against the "possible violation" of consumer rights where at least seven loan companies, including Soko Loan, were raided.

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The commission boss said some loan companies, including Soko Loan, which were investigated, "have developed methods to take advantage of technology and other financial services to circumvent account freeze and application suspension orders.

"With today's operations, the Commission expects a significant further reduction in these unacceptable practices."

Guidelines

"The Commission has issued new orders to Google Play Store to remove the following apps which have been found to be created and operating as a circumvention of existing investigative interventions; Maxi Credit, Here4U, ChaCha and SoftPay," says the press release.

"For applications that are not on the Play Store, the Commission continues to investigate on which platforms they are hosted in order to deactivate them; the Commission seeks any information from the public in this regard."

The Commission also ordered all operating payment systems, including Flutterwave, Opay, Paystack and Monify, to immediately cease providing payment or transaction services to lenders under investigation or requested committee approval.

"The Commission also ordered telecommunications/technology companies (including mobile network operators (MNOs)) to cease and desist from providing servers/hosting or other key services such as connectivity to disclosed or known lenders who are targets/subjects of investigation or otherwise operating without regulatory approval,” the statement read.

Mr. Irukera said a regulatory framework to promote "fair, transparent and mutually beneficial alternative lending opportunities outside of traditional consumer lending" is now available.

"Permission is required to proceed with digital lending; there is a limited moratorium period for existing businesses to comply in order to continue lending online," he explained.

"The guidelines also require various relevant ecosystem service providers (such as banks, access/download platforms or stores, technology providers, and payment systems) to require regulatory approval before provide services."

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