Google Kenya Blacklisted Nearly 500 Unlicensed DCP Loan Apps From Play Store

The Kenyan regulatory system campaigning for legitimate digital inclusion within its jurisdiction has impacted Google to blacklist several loan apps from Play Store backed by the inland Digital Credit Provider (DCP) policy. The draft of the DCP policy outlines mandatory requirements that verify FinTech start-ups with the issued license to denote a legitimate entity as well as access to the local apex bank support.

The Central Bank of Kenya constituted the DCP draft into an active digital policy for FinTech-inclined start-ups to acquire the local apex bank-issued license which denotes a legitimate entity’s certification to operate without regulatory scolds. The Kenyan apex bank enacted the DCP policy towards the end of the prior business year.

However, Google Kenya kicked off 2023 with a policy debut in line with the Kenyan DCP regulations which the search giant modified to become a regional policy. In the East African region where Google Play Store operates, the in-app policy demands digital lenders to document proof of the intended FinTech platform license issued by their respective apex bank or regulator within the app developer regional landscape.

Google started purging its app warehouse of unlicensed loan apps in the wake of January 2023 — another set of unlicensed FinTech providers was blacklisted from the Play Store. Still, the search giant is yet to affirm the hundreds of unlicensed digital lenders it exiled from the Play Store for not complying with the DCP regulations as well as the app store policy.

The Kenyan regulatory system will not scold Google Kenya for blacklisting indigenous apps because policy defaulters are meant to be scolded — just like the search giant has done to curb illegitimate startups thriving in its app warehouse. However, Google has reportedly blacklisted roughly five hundred unlicensed FinTech apps since the wake of the Play Store policy was updated.

Google did not disclose how often the unfriendly Play Store policy to unlicensed apps will stretch across the continental border to relentlessly scold policy defaulters. Still, the search engine company has reportedly optimized the play store with an all-app synchronization feature that interconnects multiple Android devices.