The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has issued revised draft guidelines for a second round of public comment that would lift the moratorium on registering online lending platforms and impose stronger prudential, disclosure and market conduct requirements on financing and lending companies. The proposal would set minimum paid-up capital of PHP 15 million for new financing companies and PHP 5 million for new lending companies, while linking existing companies’ requirements to the number of platforms they operate and capping ownership and operation at five platforms. Financing companies would need capital of PHP 20 million for one platform, PHP 60 million for three and PHP 100 million for five. The corresponding thresholds for lending companies would be PHP 10 million, PHP 30 million and PHP 50 million. Each company would receive a single certificate of authority covering its principal office, branches and online platforms. The draft would also prohibit loan disbursement without the borrower’s explicit and informed confirmation of final terms, require collection communications to identify the company or platform, and increase penalties for unfair debt collection. Third and subsequent offenses could attract fines of up to PHP 1 million, suspension or revocation of the certificate of authority. Comments are due by June 15.

Original source