Opay is currently at risk of being kicked out of Google Play Store. The company is accused of offering predatory short-term loans and exorbitant interest in Nigeria, Kenya, and India. The allegations were revealed in a report conducted by Hindenburg Research.
Opera listed Opera Mini browsing service on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in 2018. The company has since diversified its business offerings to include on-demand ride-hailing, food delivery and Loan services.
According to the Heidenburg report, Opera offers predatory short term loans to customers in both Africa and India. These services are provided through OKash (Opay Nigeria App), CashBean (India) and OPesa (Kenya) all available on the Google App Store.
See Also: Google’s New policy Hacks Down Short Term Loan on Google Play
The short term loans serve as a major revenue and account for over 42% of its total revenue. It also accrued $250 million to the company with about 5million loans being awarded in the 3rd Quarter.
Amidst the growth and gains, Opera increased its short-term loan interest rates. This is against the Google policy which barred loans less than 60 days on its platform.
It could be recalled that we shared in a report on Google’s bid to hack down short term loans from its platform.
Google is removing several financial apps from its platform. Thus, it will not be uncouth if Google removes Opera-owned apps based on the following allegations;
- We don’t allow apps that expose users to deceptive or harmful financial products and services.
- We do not allow apps that promote loans that require repayment in full in 60 days or less from the date the loan was issued. (Short term Loans).
Opera 3 loan apps flaunted this policy by:
- Offering short term loans that are less than 60 days. Okash, for example, offers loans that are meant to be refunded in 15 days.
- Increasing Interest rates on investment above 33% to about 438%. Meanwhile, the interest rate also jumped as high as 876% after one day of defaulting to repay the loan.
Opera has, however, released a statement claiming that the Hindenburg report was erroneous. The tech startup also noted that the report contains unsubstantiated elements and misleading conclusions. We are on the lookout for Google’s decision on the report.