MANILA - The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday it has removed 33 unregistered online lending platforms (OLPs) from Google Play Store.

The apps violated the SEC's disclosure requirements, the SEC said.

Financing and lending companies are required to register their apps as business names and disclose their corporate names, SEC registration numbers and certificate of authority numbers in their apps and advertisements.

"The removal of the OLPs is also in line with the SEC’s previous discussions with Google. In May 2022, Google adopted a new policy which required developers with personal loan apps targeting users in the Philippines to submit a Personal Loan App Declaration and necessary documentation before they could publish apps on Google Play Store," the SEC said.

"Personal loan apps operating in the Philippines without proper declaration and license attribution will be removed from Google Play Store. In the event where the submitted license, registration or declaration is no longer valid under applicable laws, the developers are required to promptly remove the app from the Google Play Store," it added.

In November 2021, the SEC said it also issued Memorandum Circular No. 10, Series of 2021 (SEC MC 10) which imposed a moratorium on the registration of new OLPs.

Only OLPs registered as of Nov. 2, 2021 may operate and be used for online lending or financing, according to SEC MC 10.

The SEC said it has so far revoked the certificates of registration of 2,084 lending and financing companies due to the failure to secure their requisite certificate of authority, and canceled the CA of 39 financing and lending companies due to various violations.

• SEC orders 7 unlicensed online lenders to stop operations
• SEC issues moratorium on new online lending apps in bid to curb 'abusive financing'
• SEC creates office to monitor lending firms

RELATED VIDEO:

Watch more News on iWantTFC