This archive report was first published on 5 December 2019.
Published on December 5, 2019, a report by Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) has shed light on the Kenyan mobile loans market, revealing a significant trend in lending practices.
According to the report, borrowers aged between 31 and 50 years dominate the market, with the banking sector accounting for a staggering 93% of the loans market. This is a significant finding, given the rise of digital mobile apps in the sector.
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The report also highlights that most borrowers (66%) are averse to borrowing from more than one lender, while 24% had borrowed from two lenders. This suggests that Kenyans are risk-averse when it comes to borrowing from multiple lenders.
"Our data also shows that the banking sector dominates the mobile lending space by a staggering 93 per cent while the other seven per cent is lent out by digital mobile apps," said Creditinfo chief executive Kamau Kunyiha. "We based this report on the data supplied to us by lenders in order to eliminate those buts and ifs and begin a trend of information that is backed strictly by data," he added.
Mobile lending has grown significantly in Kenya, with the rise of close to 50 platforms in a largely unregulated sector. Major financial players such as KCB, NCBA, Equity, and Co-operative banks are among the key players in this sector.
The data was collected between November 2018 and April 2019 and constitutes information supplied by lending institutions to credit reference bureaus (CRBs) under Central Bank of Kenya rules.
