SEC shuts down Delisha Lending over undisclosed loan apps
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down Delisha Lending Investor and Trading Corp. for noncompliance with various regulatory requirements and failure to disclose the operation of several online lending platforms (OLPs).
In a statement on Tuesday, June 23, the SEC said it had canceled the firm’s corporate registration and certificate of authority to operate as a lending company.
In an order, the SEC’s financing and lending companies department (FLCD) found Delisha Lending liable for violating the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Lending Company Regulation Act (LCRA), as well as several SEC issuances.
Seven officers and directors of the company were found liable for the violations and were directed to pay a penalty of ₱50,000 each, for a total of ₱350,000. Penalized officers include Delisha Lending’s chairman and president, secretary, and five board members.
FLCD found that Delisha Lending failed to submit reportorial requirements for various years, including its general information sheet (GIS), audited financial statements (FS), corresponding special forms and interim semiannual FS, as well as annual fees for lending firms from 2014 to 2025.
Additionally, Delisha Lending failed to disclose the operation of several OLPs, including Peso Cow-Mabilis Pera Loan, Peso Cow, Bingo Peso: Philippine Cash Loan, and Kapit Cash-Online Quick Loan, in violation of SEC Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 19, series of 2019.
It likewise continued operating the undisclosed lending applications despite the implementation of MC 10, series of 2020, which imposes a moratorium on new and unrecorded OLPs.
Delisha Lending also failed to provide its contact information to the SEC as required under MC 28, series of 2020, and submit its impact evaluation reports for 2023 and 2024 and business plan for 2022, in violation of MC 3, series of 2022.
“In view of the multiplicity, duration, seriousness, and continuing character of [Delisha Lending’s] violations, and in light of its failure to heed the commission’s notices and directives, the [SEC] finds that revocation is not only authorized by law but compelled by the circumstances,” the order read.
It added: “The violations are substantial, systemic, and deliberate. The record shows no genuine effort at correction, only repeated default and regulatory defiance.” - James A. Loyola