The Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has said it will delist any loan application harassing customers and ask Google to permanently delete such apps from its AppStore.

This is coming from the complaints of customers who are being harassed by the digital lenders. According to the federal government, the newest measures put in place is to protect Nigerians from the activities of these digital lenders.

In an interview with Arise TV on The Morning Show, monitored by MARKETING EDGE, the Executive vice chairman and CEO, FCCPC, said once a loan app has been delisted due to consumers harassment, there would not be a second chance. He added that genuine people in need of the loans should not be made to suffer frustrations to get loans.

His words: “We will make sure that any app on Google that defames consumers would not have the opportunity to do legal business in Nigeria anymore. You cannot, because there is a high rate of default, begin to engage in inappropriate ways of recovering loans. People who truly have a problem and those who fail to make a payment should not be subjected to the inconvenience of frustrations or harassments that accompany these defamatory messages.”

Irukere, who spoke on involving the use of AI to boost the processes involved in money lending by these online banks, said: “AI is an emerging space that regulators are trying to put their hands around, both from the competition standpoint and the consumer protection standpoint. We welcome the use of technology that promotes efficiency and some level of precision. However, even in the use of AI, any technology that gives you inappropriate access to people’s privacy or gives data controllers some level of control or access, we would challenge that.”

He added that there is a platform dedicated where reports on the conducts of these online banks can be reported. He also said the public can make use of the complaint platform on the commission’s website.

It could be recalled that earlier in the year, the FCCPC mandated loan apps to register with it and so far only 180 apps had received full or conditional approval from the commission to operate in the country.