Leadership & Policy
The founding crisis, the regulatory programme, the listing horizon.
Chair of the Digital Financial Services Association of Kenya (DFSAK) since 2020. Founding director of its predecessor, the Digital Lenders Association of Kenya (DLAK), in 2019.
Under DFSAK oversight
What an industry body actually shows up as.
01
The founding crisis
By 2019, Kenya’s digital lending boom had outrun its guardrails. Hundreds of apps. Aggressive collections practices. Public listing of late borrowers on social media. A regulatory vacuum the Central Bank had not yet stepped into.
The industry needed two things at once: a credible counterparty for the regulator to negotiate with, and an internal mechanism for raising the floor on conduct. The Digital Lenders Association of Kenya (DLAK) was founded that year. I served as a founding director. The Standard newspaper covered the launch — Digital money lenders form association as Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge talks tough.
02
The regulatory programme
In 2020 I took the Chair, and DLAK became DFSAK — a wider remit covering all digital financial services, not only credit. The work for the next three years was the Digital Credit Provider (DCP) licence regime: drafting input with the Central Bank, member onboarding to the new licence, conduct standards, consumer protection, and the data-sharing arrangements that made the industry legible to the regulator for the first time.
The result is what the numbers above describe. Over KES 109.8 billion disbursed by licensed members. More than 6.6 million loans facilitated under CBK oversight. And, perhaps most importantly, a 75% reduction in harassment and debt-shaming cases by digital lenders since the programme began — the consumer-protection trust deficit that defined the founding crisis, materially closed. An industry that went from the front page of every consumer-protection complaint to a supervised, taxable, contributing pillar of the financial services sector.
03
The horizon
The next chapter is institutional. The leading DFSAK members are now mature, profitable, regulated businesses with the governance discipline to consider public-market funding. The Nairobi Securities Exchange listing of a digital lender — done well, with the right disclosure regime — would mark the full arc from regulatory crisis to investable category.
That is what the industry body now exists to make possible. Not as cheerleading, but as the underwriting of standards rigorous enough that public markets can price the asset class with confidence.
Regulatory submissions
16 submissions on record.
Formal industry input to the Central Bank of Kenya, National Treasury, National Assembly, Capital Markets Authority, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, and the relevant ministries — under DFSAK and its predecessor, DLAK.
April 2026
DFSAK
Comments on the Proposed Financial Consumer Protection Framework
Industry response to proposed consumer protection standards across digital financial services.
To: Central Bank of Kenya
April 2026
DFSAK
Submissions on the Virtual Asset Service Provider Regulations 2026
Member input on the revised virtual-asset service provider regulatory framework.
To: Capital Markets Authority
February 2026
DFSAK
Complaints Mechanism Letter to the Central Bank
Proposed industry-standard complaints handling protocol for licensed digital credit providers.
To: Central Bank of Kenya
February 2026
DFSAK
Submission — Kenya's Virtual Assets Service Provider Regulations
Detailed clause-by-clause member feedback on the initial Virtual Asset Service Provider regulatory framework.
To: Capital Markets Authority
February 2026
DFSAK
Submission — Kenya's National Data Governance Policy
Industry position on cross-sector data governance and digital-lender obligations.
To: Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy
2026
DFSAK
Contribution to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (2025–2028)
Sector-level input on the four-year national financial inclusion roadmap.
To: Association of Non-Deposit Taking Credit Providers of Kenya / Treasury working group
2025
DFSAK
DFSAK / Association of Microfinance Institutions Joint Presentation on Non-Deposit Taking Credit Provider Regulations
Joint industry presentation on non-deposit-taking credit provider rules.
To: Central Bank of Kenya
2025
DFSAK
Submission on the Public Sector–Private Sector Engagement Bill
Industry comment on the framework governing public–private engagement processes.
To: National Assembly
2025
DFSAK
Submissions on the Central Bank Regulations 2025
Sector-wide response to the proposed Non-Deposit Taking Credit Providers Regulations.
To: Central Bank of Kenya
2025
DFSAK
Submissions on the Finance Bill 2025
Tax-policy submissions on excise duty parity and digital-lender treatment.
To: National Assembly Finance Committee
2024
DFSAK
Memoranda to the National Assembly
Consolidated industry memoranda on pending legislation affecting digital financial services.
To: National Assembly
2024
DFSAK
Office of the Data Protection Commissioner Code & Regulations Comments
Member commentary on the proposed data-protection code and operating rules.
To: Office of the Data Protection Commissioner
November 2024
DFSAK
Submissions to National Treasury on Allowability of Bad Debts Guidelines
Case for parity with banks on tax-deductible bad-debt provisioning rules.
To: National Treasury
2024
DFSAK
Submissions on Virtual Asset Service Provider Bill and National Policy
Early industry input on virtual-asset service provider primary legislation.
To: Capital Markets Authority
June 2023
DFSAK
Submissions on the Finance Bill 2023
Industry pushback against the 20% excise duty on digital loan interest.
To: National Assembly Finance Committee
August 2020
DLAK
Submission on the Central Bank Amendment Bill 2020
Founding industry submission supporting the bill that brought lenders under Central Bank supervision.
To: Central Bank of Kenya
Press & policy enquiries