Regulated Growth · Issue 3 · 23 October 2026
This issue: CBK’s new rule for lender ads, a text that keeps coming after STOP, and what showing the APR does to payback. Five minutes.
By Elijah Oling Wanga · Sources checked 21 October 2026 · Not legal advice
1 · The change
The CBK (Non-Deposit Taking Credit Providers) Regulations, 2026 (Legal Notice 191) took effect on 29 September 2026 and revoked the 2022 digital credit rules. Regulation 51 requires every ad, printed or digital, to carry the APR and the components of total cost of credit, with the APR prominent. Regulation 52 adds that a printed ad quoting a rate must say whether it is monthly or annual, fixed or variable. Incomplete statements of rate or charges count as misleading.
Who it affects: lenders licensed under the 2022 rules, which carry over (regulation 96). Penalties run to KES 2 million, or three times the gain if higher, plus KES 10,000 a day (regulation 86).
Check this week: look at every live ad, landing page and SMS template for the APR, the cost components and both labels.
Source: Kenya Law, Legal Notice 191 of 2026, regulations 51, 52, 86, 96 and 97, read 21 October 2026.
2 · The teardown
A pattern, not one page: a win-back campaign texts past borrowers. Consent was ticked once, inside the loan terms. A customer replies STOP and the SMS platform logs it, but the CRM list behind next week’s campaign never hears, so the offers continue.
Regulation 82(1)(l) of the same CBK Regulations bars marketing to a customer who has opted out. The Data Protection (General) Regulations, 2021 say the same in regulation 16(2).
The fix: one suppression list, updated from every channel the same day, with marketing consent kept apart from the loan terms. More in the Kenya Data Protection Act guide.
Source: Kenya Law, Legal Notice 191 of 2026, regulation 82(1)(l), and ODPC, Data Protection (General) Regulations, 2021, regulation 16(2), read 21 October 2026.
3 · The number
Illustrative figures, not a client’s. A lender spends KES 450,000 (about US$3,500) on app-install ads at KES 300 per install: 1,500 installs. 30% finish an application (450) and 40% of those take a first loan: 180.
Cost per first loan: KES 450,000 ÷ 180 = KES 2,500 (about US$19). If a borrower returns KES 200 a month after defaults and funding costs, payback is 12.5 months.
Suppose the APR in the ad lifts cost per install to KES 375 (an assumption, not a measurement). The same budget gives 144 first loans at KES 3,125 each (about US$24), and payback stretches to 15.6 months.
Budget for the disclosure before the ads go live. The method is in CAC payback period; run your own figures in the free CAC calculator.
That’s issue 3. Reply to the email version and tell me what you’re working on. It reaches me directly.
Elijah
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