Dude, where is the regulator?

Remember all the brouhaha (on Twitter) over how many loan shark apps had permeated Play Store in Pakistan and ripped off ordinary folks with misleading claims and exorbitant interest rates? It was enough for Google to take notice and remove some of the names. Well, that lasted less than two months as two of the apps removed from Play Store are not only back again but currently trending in the top five of the finance category. Meanwhile, some unlicensed players took a page out of Islamic militant books and came back with a new name, all dry-cleaned. The entire episode seems to have made absolutely no difference to their modus operandi: annual percentage rates are still grossly understated and misleading marketing campaigns are in full force. Meanwhile, the regulator continues to look the other way lest it may have to actually do something regarding the problem instead of asking the very offenders to self-regulate themselves. This is what it did last time when the issue was raised, calling a meeting with digital non-banking finance companies and issuing a press release that unlicensed players are bringing bad repute to the sector.