Tala, Branch among digital lenders facing complaints for data breach
Tala, Branch, Senti, Zash loan, Zenka Digital Limited are among 40 lenders flagged by the Office of the Data Protection Commission (ODPC) over complaints of a data breach.
ODPC in a statement said, “We wish to notify the public that it is conducting preliminary documentary assessment and audit on 40 Digital Credit Providers (DCPs) whose practices regarding the processing of personal data have been raised to the Data Commissioner as complaints by various members of the public.”
ODPC says it had received 1,030 complaints, the office admitted 555 of these cases including 299 which were on digital lenders, representing 54 per cent of all cases admitted.
According to Data Commissioner, Immaculate Kassait, all complaints received will be investigated thoroughly and action will be taken where there are breaches.
“We want to assure the public that the complaints received will be investigated and concluded accordingly,” she said.
According to the data protection authority, the companies will be required to furnish their office with requisite documents by October 18, failure to which they will be deemed to have failed to cooperate with the Office which is an offence under Section 61 of the Act.
The Data Protection regulations of 2021 took effect in February 2022 paving the way for data subjects to file complaints and report data breaches to the Data Commissioner.
The Central Bank of Kenya is conducting an audit of all digital lenders in accordance with CBK Act 2022 regulations on digital lending. CBK has already approved 10 companies and will have to clear the other 278 companies within the 60-day timeline for verification and licensing of digital lenders.