Shoprite Found Guilty of Reckless Lending

The National Consumer Tribunal has found retailer Shoprite guilty of reckless lending, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) said on Wednesday.The CEO of the NCR, Nomsa Motshegare, said the judgment comes following an investigation by the Credit Regulator, which revealed that the retailer entered into credit agreements with consumers without conducting a reasonable and objective assessment of consumers' ability to afford loans.

"Some of the conduct of Shoprite that was found to be in contravention of the National Credit Act (NCA) was that Shoprite, when assessing whether a consumer could afford a loan or not, took into account unverified income of another person, such as a spouse or a life partner," saidMotshegare.In October 2015, the NCR announced that it had referred the retailer's two business units to the National Consumer Tribunal, which is an independent adjudicative entity.

Over and above the finding that Shoprite has committed a prohibited conduct under the NCA, the Tribunal has imposed a fine of R1 million on...