SEC suspends 100 lending companies

MANILA, Philippines - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has now suspended at least 100 lending companies.

This after it suspended 20 more lending companies which failed to obtain a Certificate of Authority to operate as a lending company. The certificate is required under Republic Act 9474 or the Lending Company Regulation Act of 2007.

This is on top of the 84 lending companies already suspended by the SEC last March.

The SEC has so far suspended a total of 104 lending companies.

The corporate regulator’s aggressive crackdown against lending companies is part of President Duterte’s directive to weed out informal lenders in the country especially those that prey on individuals that do no have access to banks and other financing.

Duterte is particularly against 5-6 lenders or those that charge an interest of 20 percent per month, which means that when a borrower borrows P5, he has to pay P6.

The SEC is the lead agency in the administration of said law. Section 4 of R.A. 9474 which states that “no lending company shall conduct business unless granted an authority to operate by the SEC.”

Director Justina Callangan, of the SEC’s Corporate Governance and Finance Department, tasked to regulate lending companies, said that lending entities have been given more than sufficient time to comply with the law, hence, their continued noncompliance warrants their suspension.