THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday that Google Inc. has followed the regulator’s advice to adopt a stringent approval process for local online lending applications on Android smart phones in the Philippines.
By May 11, Google will require developers offering personal loans in the Philippines to submit a personal loan app declaration and other necessary documentation before they could publish the application on Google Play. The latter is the firm’s official store for Android apps, games, music, movies and e-books.
In the declaration form, developers are required to state they are registered with and licensed by the SEC in the Philippines to operate an online lending platform, perform lending-based crowdfunding activities such as peer-to-peer lending or to act as a crowdfunding intermediary.
Developers would also be required to confirm they are engaged in a lawful business activity and are undertaking its operations in compliance with applicable laws.
Personal loan apps operating in the Philippines without proper declaration and license attribution will be removed from the Google Play, according to the SEC. If the submitted license, registration or declaration is no longer valid under the applicable laws, the developers are required to remove the app from Google Play Store.
SEC Chairman Emilio B. Aquino expressed gratitude to Google “for supporting our efforts to combat illegal and abusive lending and thereby preserve the financing and lending industry’s integrity and provide Filipinos secure and accessible financing options.”
“We are positive that the additional requirements, imposed by Google for developers of personal loan apps targeting users in the Philippines, will serve as another layer of protection for Filipino borrowers and deterrence against predatory lending,” Aquino said.
The SEC official said they have been consulting Google since May 2019 to address the proliferation of unregistered personal loan apps. Aside from reporting and requesting for the removal of unlicensed lending apps from Google Play, the SEC had been asking the US technology giant to verify the legitimacy of lending and financing companies looking to develop and publish their apps.
The Philippines is only the third country in which Google will implement the additional requirements for developers of personal loan apps, after India and Indonesia.
Republic Act 9474 (Lending Company Regulation Act of 2007) requires persons or entities operating as lending companies to register as corporations and to secure from the SEC the necessary authority to operate.
The Financing Company Act of 1998 (RA 8556) also requires a financing company to register with the SEC as a corporation and to secure separately from the SEC an authority to operate.