A cap on interest rates implemented by the Central Bank had no “significant impact” on competition among moneylenders, the regulator found in a report on the sector.

The cash loan sector has seen a “significant decline” in customer numbers in the past five years, the Central Bank found, citing the exit of the largest player in the sector in 2021, understood to be Provident Financial.

A cap on interest rates charged by moneylenders, or high-cost credit providers such as cash loan firms and goods-on-credit retailers, was introduced as part of legislation in 2022.

Even after the cap was introduced, annual percentage rates (APRs) of 152.3 per cent were “typical” and permissible in the sector, the Central Bank found in its report, a Review of Interest Rate Cap on High Cost Credit.

The report to the Minister of Finance noted that prior to the regulations placed on the sector, the highest APRs available could amount to 253.05 per cent, including collection charges.

These charges were banned in the 2022 Act, which has brought down the highest APRs charged – excluding collection charges – from 188.45 per cent prior to its introduction, to 153.25 per cent now.

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On a comparative basis, the cost of credit has fallen from 75.64 per cent in late 2022 to 48 per cent in mid 2025.

Legislation introduced in 2022 to regulate the moneylending sector placed a 1 per cent per week interest rate cap, up to 48 per cent interest on fixed rate loans, with the intention of giving “protection to consumers by reducing the total cost of credit”.

The Act also banned the practice of charging for home collection, and introduced a maximum duration of such lending to 52 weeks.

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The Central Bank said “the interest rate cap has not had a significant impact on competition in the sector”, with the majority of cash loans in the sector operating at the interest rate cap of 48 per cent annually in 2024.

Competition in the sector, it said, has shifted to the duration of the loans and to the weekly repayment amount.

It noted that the supply of credit in the sector has “remained steady” since the cap was introduced, despite the cap on interest rates having the “intended” affect of reducing interest rates across the sector.

The total number of providers in the market, however, was observed to have decreased by more than a third from 2023 to 2025, falling from 43 to just 28.

The cash loan sector, the Central Bank noted, has seen a “significant decline” in customer account numbers. One measure of the size of the sector approximated that there were 146,000 customer accounts in the sector in 2014, but that fell to just 31,000 by 2024.

“The cap has had no direct impact on financial inclusion, as the overall supply of credit remains steady since the introduction of the cap. However, the value of continued access to loans supplied by the sector was highlighted by consumer research and civil society,” the Central Bank said.