Following a complaint filed by customers, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced that it has banned 624 digital lenders and credit providers only from sharing customer data with Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs).

These customers are asking for the protection of their personal data. The personal data in question relates to loan payments and payment defaults over the past year. Kenya had 1994 data providers authorized to share defaults and borrowers' payments with CRBs. This corresponds to a decrease of 23.8% compared to 2618 approved businesses the previous year.
The banking regulator attributed the fall to the ban, which followed an outcry over widespread abuse of the Credit Information Exchange Mechanism (CIS). CRBs are authorized to contact third parties, including digital lenders, to obtain information about loan payments and defaults for later sharing with banks, microfinance institutions, and saccos