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{
    "id": 1095470,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1095470/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 329,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiharu, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13370,
        "legal_name": "Samson Ndindi Nyoro",
        "slug": "samson-ndindi-nyoro"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. First of all, I wanted to rise on a point of order because the Member referred to the borrowers as boys. It is not all the borrowers who are boys. However, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, allow me to ventilate on this matter of digital lending and start by saying that when we talk about digital lending, we are simply talking about fintech. Fintech is the convergence of finance and technology. This is a subsector within the larger technology sector. The second one from fintech, which is the number one currently in the world is biotech. That is research and technology based on health sciences. However, the Bill before us today is around fintech, the convergence between finances and technology. Actually, this is the highest growing subsector. This is the highest growing sector globally in many measures in terms of transactions made, the value and the absorption of money from investors, namely, venture capital and private equity fund. Therefore, it is good for us to keep on polishing the laws that we have in this country in so far as technology and specifically fintech is concerned. Actually, the current fintech is valued around US$324 billion. It is projected that between this year 2021 and 2026, the growth within fintech in terms of value will be around 24 per cent compounded per annum. Therefore, it is a very critical and important sector that should always be polished in terms of legislation. However, we also have to be mindful about where regulation meets innovation because many times, especially in archaic kind of economies, we find that regulation is used to stifle innovation. Therefore, it is good for us to find the line because we need innovation, but on the other side, we need regulation to protect the users of this technology. Even before I come to our country Kenya, allow me to speak a little bit about the trends that are there. I just talked about the absorption of money, namely, investors’ money towards various sectors. Just this year, we saw a very young US-based fintech company called Stripe buying a Nigerian company called Paystack at around US$200 million. A young company less than 10 years old being bought at a value in terms of Kshs20 billion. This just exemplifies the importance of fintech across. However, fintech generally is domiciled within tech and as we talk about regulation, it is also good for us to be mindful about the innovation side. If you look at an economy like the USA, we have many unicorns. Unicorns are start-ups that are valued in excess of US$1 billion. You find that many of the unicorns in the USA are based on tech and there is a The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}