Sycamore, a digital lending platform, has commended the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for its speedy process in granting approval to digital lenders in Nigeria.
Babatunde Akin-Moses, Sycamore’s CEO, who gave the commendation, said he was delighted at securing the approval, making Sycamore the first digital lender in Nigeria to get that approval.
“The commission is doing a great job in ensuring the legitimacy of the digital lending space; we encourage other players to obtain this approval in order to boost public trust in our industry,” he said.
Chukwuemeka Ikpa, Head of Data and Compliance at Sycamore, said he was also delighted with the speed of the commission in performing all checks and granting the approval.
“The FCCPC’s professionalism throughout the approval process is quite commendable. Thankfully, Sycamore already carried out its data protection audit with the help of Anderson, which is part of what made the process such a breeze for us,” he said.
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The company in a statement obtained by BusinessDay in Lagos at the weekend noted that the consideration for the approval was based on various accounts and publicly available records.
Akin-Moses noted that seeking and obtaining the approval was in compliance with a memorandum published on August 16, 2022 by the FCCPC, requiring all digital lending companies in Nigeria to obtain approval from the commission.
He explained that the FCCPC Framework was part of its ongoing exercise to improve the online conduct of digital lenders, based on allegations that some operators engage in the violation of consumer rights.
“Payment providers like Paystack, Remita, Monnify, etc have instructed all their lending merchants to comply with this directive or face being dissociated and disconnected from doing business on their platforms,” he said.
Sycamore is a peer-to-peer lending platform that connects lenders to borrowers with the aim of assisting people and SMEs to achieve their dreams. It is also the first relationship-based lending platform in Nigeria, which makes it easy for loved ones to help each other with loans through its Loan Friends product on its mobile app.
