Moneylenders Amendment Bill is Necessary for Fairness in Business

The government is cracking down on shady lending practices with a new bill aimed at protecting borrowers. The Moneylenders (Amendment) Bill 2025 introduces tougher rules, like requiring lenders to register as companies with at least fifty thousand dollars in capital and submit annual audited financials if they’re big players. For borrowers, the changes mean clearer loan disclosures and a big win on interest rates: the total cost of borrowing, including fees, will now be capped at one hundred and forty-four percent per annum, down from a staggering two hundred and forty percent. And if lenders try to sneak in hidden charges? They could face penalties of up to five thousand dollars a day. Prime Minister John Briceño says the goal isn’t to shut down moneylenders, but to strike a fair balance between business and consumer protection.

 

Prime Minster John Briceño

“I don’t think it’s a matter of tightening the noose on everyone. It is to ensure that these lenders do not take advantage of our citizens when they are in most need. And we want to ensure that yes, they’re providing a service. Yes, they the cost of doing business is higher than the bank because they take bigger risk, but we can’t allow them to be able to charge in excess of two hundred and forty, two hundred and fifty percent. And so what we’re saying that we have lowered that down to about one hundred forty-four percent total. It’s still a large number, but we’re saying that the total charges that they have cannot go more than one hundred forty-four percent. And secondly, that whenever a borrower signs they have to list out all of the fees that can be charged to them legally. So that you, as a borrower, you signed, you are fully aware of what you’re signing on. So afterwards, you can’t go and say I never know. So that is some of the things that we want. We want to make sure that we can provide something better to protect our citizens and at the same time, to ensure that these, these money lenders can work within a more clear environment of doing business.”