SEC removes 33 online lending apps in Google Play Store

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission expunged 33 online lending platforms (OLPs) from Google Play Store for failing to provide necessary documentation.

In a statement on Thursday, the regulator said Google Philippines assisted them in removing these OLPs from circulation. The SEC said Google implemented a new policy requiring developers of personal lending apps, targetted towards users in the country, to submit a Personal Loan App Declaration before they could publish their apps within the platform’s app store.

“Personal loan apps operating in the Philippines without proper declaration and license attribution will be removed from Google Play Store. In the event where the submitted license, registration or declaration is no longer valid under applicable laws, the developers are required to promptly remove the app from the Google Play Storem,” the SEC said. 

The SEC issued SEC Memorandum Circular No. 10, Series of 2021 (SEC MC 10). This policy imposed a moratorium on the registration of new OLPs. 

The SEC has revoked registration certificates of 2,084 lending and financing companies in the country for failing to secure certificates of authority.

The regulator has also canceled certificates of authority of 39 financing and lending companies owing to various violations. 

The crackdown on the sector is part of the state’s broader effort to police predatory and illegal lending practices, which took on new life amid the pandemic.