We create the first website in Kenya that aggregates financial information; creating a platform which would be valuable to consumers and advertisers alike. loans.co.ke is non partisan and is intended to target specific audience, particularly those searching for financial information. loans.co.ke is intended to reduce the search cost for charges and interest fees on Kenyan commercial banks. loans.co.ke allows Kenyan borrowers and savers to quickly evaluate loans, savings account products from various banks in Kenya. It is primarily intended to enable users make better decisions about their financial investments and borrowing activities. Many consumers tend borrow inappropriate facilities as they find it expensive in time and cost to search for more suitable products in the market as this would entail moving from one bank to another.

 

We expect such the website to promote industry wide competition and save time to consumers who will no longer have to visit different financial institutions seeking pricing of various products before making their decisions. New entrants and small financial institutions will be able to get immediate market access to customers at little cost (without the need to set up an extensive branch network). The website will also expand to other financials products away from just loans; and into options of raising finance such as private equity. Other areas include investment products, insurance and savings societies.

 

Interest rates are priced by banks on a risk weighted based basis which means that the interest cost to a client would depend on the risk attached to that particular individual. The pricing on loans generated by this website is therefore be only indicative. As a result, actual pricing may be higher or lower depending on the risk profile of the individual. Information sharing of client financial information through Credit Reference Bureaus recently introduced will make loan pricing more effective.

Information sharing is also likely to result in ratings by bank for their client risk through the attribution of credit scores. When this is incorporated into the website, a more accurate pricing could be achieved.

The Central Bank of Kenya is working of harmonizing pricing through the use of the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) which would make comparables between different loan pricing structures used by commercial banks and lenders much more accurate. We have incorporated different charges into the programming of the website and we think the results will be fairly reflective of the actual costs.

 

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