Following a complaint filed by customers, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced that it has banned  624 digital lenders and credit providers only from sharing their customers' data with credit reference bureaus (CRBs).

These customers demand protection of their personal data. The personal data in question relates to last year's loan payments and defaults. Kenya had 1994 data providers authorized to share borrowers' defaults and payments with CRBs. This corresponds to a decrease of 23.8% compared to 2618 approved companies the previous year.
The banking regulator attributed the fall to the ban, which followed an outcry over widespread misuse of the Credit Information Exchange Mechanism (CIS). CRBs are allowed to contact third parties, including digital lenders, to obtain information about loan payments and defaults for further sharing with banks, microfinance institutions and saccos.