The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the assistance of Google Philippines, on Thursday removed 33 unregistered online lending platforms (OLPs) on Google Play Store.
These lending apps and their developers have not been reporting to the SEC, in violation of Memorandum Circular 19 – 2019 or the Disclosure Requirements on Advertisements of Financing Companies and Lending Companies and Reporting of OLPs.
Their removal is consistent with the SEC’s previous discussions with Google when in May 2022 the popular internet search engine required app developers targeting users in the Philippines to submit a declaration and documentation before publishing the apps on Google Play Store.
Personal loan apps operating in the Philippines without proper declaration and license are removed from Google Play Store. In the event the submitted license, registration or declaration is no longer valid under the law, the developers are required to remove the app from the Google Play Store.
Under the SEC circular, financing and lending companies must register their OLPs, disclose their corporate names, their SEC registration number and certificate of authority.
In November 2021, the SEC issued SEC Memorandum Circular 10 – 2021 imposing a moratorium on the registration of new OLPs.
That circular provided also that only online lending platforms registered as of November 2, 2021 may operate and be used for online lending or financing, subject to strict monitoring.
“The SEC will continue its efforts to protect existing and prospective borrowers from abusive, unethical and illegal lenders,” the agency said.
To date, the SEC has revoked the registration of 2,084 lending and financing companies that failed to secure the requisite certificate of authority. It also canceled the CA of 39 financing and lending companies due to various violations of applicable rules and regulations.
“The SEC is looking at engaging with other social media platforms for the adoption of a similar gatekeeping policy imposed by Google Philippines in the interest of customer protection,” the SECF said.
