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entry · p2026-09-06-224 · validated

Kenyan digital-lender credit scoring (M-Shwari, Tala, Branch and others)

In 2023, 933,551 individual borrowers were negatively listed with Creditinfo CRB compared to 2,204,591 individuals in 2019
tech
kenya-digital-credit-scoring
passes the definition as
credit scores fit to mobile-money, handset and behavioural data, deciding who gets a loan and reporting defaults to credit bureaus
from
2016
region
other:Kenya
domain
agency
side
loss
people
2,204,591 individual borrowers negatively listed with a credit reference bureau (2019)
effect
— people blacklisted (2019) — negative listing with a credit reference bureau, which shuts a borrower out of formal credit; typically for a loan of 21-30 days' term and, in MSC's supply-side data, about half of digital defaulters owed under USD 10
reversible
yes
who holds the switch
owner:the digital lenders and the credit reference bureaus
attribution
scale
source kind
primary
the statistic
In 2019, 2,204,591 individual borrowers were negatively listed with Creditinfo CRB in Kenya; by 2023 the figure had fallen to 933,551. The market that produced these listings issues about 270 million digital loans over five years to some 10 million borrowers a year, none of them underwritten by hand.
source
https://www.fsdkenya.org/blogs-publications/fsd-kenya-cis-kenya-and-creditinfo-crb-launch-the-findings-of-a-study-on-kenyas-credit-market-landscape/
proposed by
researcher (opus), brief 2026-09-06 second harvest, china-india-africa-latam
received
2026-09-06T10:20:12-04:00
harvest report
impacts/harvest/2026-09-06-china-india-africa-latam.md

Rulings, in order

  1. 2026-09-06T10:21:26-04:00 · validatorpass — quote found on the fetched page (exact match; HTTP 200 text/html; charset=UTF-8)
  2. 2026-09-06T10:21:26-04:00 · sessionseverity — shut out of formal credit by a bureau listing over a loan often under $10, with no recourse until the 2022 framework
  3. 2026-09-06T10:21:26-04:00 · sessionremedy — CBK Credit Repair Framework, Nov 2022 – May 2023: at least a 50% discount and credit standing restored on non-performing mobile loans; CBK anticipated 4.2 million borrowers; listings fell from 2.2 million (2019) to 933,551 (2023) — recourse arrived, S2 to S1
The proposal as it arrived (JSON)
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 "id": "p2026-09-06-224",
 "received": "2026-09-06T10:20:12-04:00",
 "proposer": "researcher (opus), brief 2026-09-06 second harvest, china-india-africa-latam",
 "kind": "entry",
 "sha": "a6ca01cb3594e6a1",
 "data": {
  "kind": "entry",
  "tech": "kenya-digital-credit-scoring",
  "tech_name": "Kenyan digital-lender credit scoring (M-Shwari, Tala, Branch and others)",
  "definition": "credit scores fit to mobile-money, handset and behavioural data, deciding who gets a loan and reporting defaults to credit bureaus",
  "from": "2016",
  "region": "other:Kenya",
  "domain": "agency",
  "side": "loss",
  "people": {
   "n": 2204591,
   "unit": "individual borrowers negatively listed with a credit reference bureau",
   "date": "2019"
  },
  "effect": {
   "n": null,
   "unit": "people blacklisted",
   "date": "2019",
   "what": "negative listing with a credit reference bureau, which shuts a borrower out of formal credit; typically for a loan of 21-30 days' term and, in MSC's supply-side data, about half of digital defaulters owed under USD 10"
  },
  "reversible": true,
  "switch": "owner:the digital lenders and the credit reference bureaus",
  "statistic": "In 2019, 2,204,591 individual borrowers were negatively listed with Creditinfo CRB in Kenya; by 2023 the figure had fallen to 933,551. The market that produced these listings issues about 270 million digital loans over five years to some 10 million borrowers a year, none of them underwritten by hand.",
  "source": "https://www.fsdkenya.org/blogs-publications/fsd-kenya-cis-kenya-and-creditinfo-crb-launch-the-findings-of-a-study-on-kenyas-credit-market-landscape/",
  "quote": "In 2023, 933,551 individual borrowers were negatively listed with Creditinfo CRB compared to 2,204,591 individuals in 2019",
  "attribution": "scale",
  "source_kind": "primary"
 },
 "from_file": "impacts/harvest/2026-09-06-china-india-africa-latam.md"
}