The purpose of regulating the Credit Community industry is to standardise moneylenders’ business compliance so that consumers may freely choose where to pursue their moneylending transactions. Media reported an increasing trend on breaching of consumers’ sovereignty by the moneylenders in Malaysia. Thus, the primary role of regulation effectiveness comes into the limelight. It raises the question of whether regulation enhancement supports or deter consumers’ sovereignty. The study was undertaken in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, where most of the consumers’ issues were handled by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The phenomenology approach was used to extract the three NGO leaders’ experiences and four regulator officers’ when dealing with the consumers and the licensed moneylenders’ issues. Data from semi-structured interviews and moneylending literature were uploaded into Nvivo 12 for thematic analysis. Findings revealed three themes: the non-governmental organisations’ role as the “watchdog”, the regulator’s educational role, and the regulator’s role in uplifting consumers’ sovereignty. The findings reveal a tendency for consumers with moneylending issues to seek NGOs, which affect the effort of seeking redress. The implication is for the regulator to take the lead in strengthening a three-way working relationship involving the moneylenders’ associations and the NGOs to resolve consumers sovereignty issues.

• Adelene, T. (2013, July 14). Regulating moneylending in Malaysia. Malaymail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2013/07/14/regulating-money-lending-in-malaysia-adelene-teoh/495103

• Afida, M. M., Elistina, A. B., & Syuhaily, O. (2014). Perlindungan pengguna ke arah memperkasakan pengguna di Malaysia [Protection towards strong consumerism in Malaysia]. Malaysian Consumer and Family Economy Association.

• Amanda, F., Possumah, B. T., & Firdaus, A. (2018). Consumerism in personal finance: An Islamic wealth management approach. Al-Iqtishad Journal of Islamic Economics, 10(2), 325-340. https://doi.org/10.15408/aiq.v10i2.5518

• Arif, A. M. (2006). Moneylenders law in Malaysia: A comparative study with the United Kingdom [Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Putra Malaysia]. https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:15167

• Arif, A. M., & Parry, D. (2008). Statutory rights and duties of the parties under the Malaysian moneylenders law. International Review of Business Research Papers, 4(3), 11-22.

• Arner, K., & Furchtgott-Roth, H. (2020). Consumer sovereignty and the role of government intervention. Hudson Institute, 1-3. https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.hudson.org/3.%20Consumer%20Sovereignty%20and%20the%20Role%20of%20Government%20Intervention%206.3.2020.pdf

• Averitt, N. W., & Lande, R. H. (1996). Consumer sovereignty: A unified theory of antitrust and consumer protection law. Antitrust Law Journal, 65, 713-756. https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1366&context=all_fac

• Bernama. (2019, October 14). Ministry receives 305 complaints of moneylender misconduct. https://www.bernama.com/en/general/news.php?id=1778990

• Casey, M., O’Connor, L., Nicholson, E., Smith, R., O’Brien, D., O’Leary, D., Fealy, G., Mcnamara, M., Sokes, D., & Egan, C. (2017). The perceptions of key stakeholders of the roles of specialist and advanced nursing and midwifery practitioners. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 73(12), 3007-3016. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13359

• Cvjetanovic, M. (2013). Consumer sovereignty: The Australian experience. Monash University Law Review, 252, 254. https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Consumer-Sovereignty-EDITED.pdf

• Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C.N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

• Daher, M., Carre, D., Jaramillo, H., & Tomicic, A. (2017). Experience and meaning in qualitative research: A conceptual review and a methodological device proposal. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18(3), 9. https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/2696/4129

• Department of Finance Report. (2019). Public consultation - Capping the cost of licensed moneylenders and other regulatory matters. Gov.ie https://www.gov.ie/en/consultation/81d5a4-public-consultation-capping-the-cost-of-licensed-moneylenders-and-ot/

• Desmarais-Tremblay, M. (2020). WH Hutt and the conceptualization of consumers’ sovereignty. Oxford Economic Papers, 72(4), 1050-1071. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpaa015

• Duggan, A. J. (1991). Some reflections on consumer protection and the law reform process. Monash University Law Review, 17(2), 252-284. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/78140/1/Duggan%20-%20some%20reflections%20consumer.pdf

• Guan, Y. G. (2003). The long and short of the “Along” problem. Malaysian Bar. http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/general/the_long_and_short_of_the_along_problem.html

• Hashim, A. H. (2002). Peranan dan tanggungjawab persatuan pengguna [The the roles and responsibilities of consumer associations]. In N. Yahaya & M. A. Othman (Eds.), Pengenalan sains pengguna (pp.136-147). Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

• Heidegger, M. (1927). Being and time. A translation of sein und zeit (J. Stambaugh, Trans.). Albany, State University of New York Press. http://www.naturalthinker.net/trl/texts/Heidegger,Martin/Heidegger,%20Martin%20-%20Being%20and%20Time/Being%20and%20Time.pdf

• Howcroft, B., Hewer, P., & Hamilton, R. (2003). Consumer decision-making styles and the purchase of financial services. Service Industries Journal, 23(3), 63-81. https://doi.org /10.1080/714005120

• Hutt, W. H. (1936). Economists and the public. Jonathan Cape.

• Izaguirre, C. J. (2020). Making consumer protection regulation more customer-centric. CGAP. https://www.cgap.org/research/publication/making-consumer-protection-regulation-more-customer-centric

• Kamaruddin, A. (2016, October 22). Ahlong, licensed moneylenders, powerful? Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia. https://www.ppim.org.my/ruang-bicara-ahlong-pemberi-pinjam-wang-berlesen-berkuasa-bernama-tv-20102016/.

• Kaufman, A. (2013). Payday lending regulation. Finance and Economics Discussion Series Divisions of Research & Statistics and Monetary Affairs Federal Reserve Board. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0d18/4d793cfc7d434890c6a59d93c1b81d3b0c7c.pdf

• Lahsasna, A. (2018). Financial consumer in Malaysia: Regulators efforts and measurements for consumer protection. In An international comparison of financial consumer protection (pp. 317-331). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8441-6_11

• Lee, T., Yun, T., & Haley, E. (2017). What you think you know: The effects of prior financial education and readability on financial disclosure processing. Journal of Behavioral Finance, 18(2), 125-142. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427560.2017.1276064

• Lefevre, A., & Chapman, M. (2017). Behavioural economics and financial consumer protection (OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions, No. 42). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/0c8685b2-en

• Markom, R., Ismail, R., Yusoff, S. S. A., & Zakuan, Z. Z. M. (2015). The institutional framework of financial consumers in Malaysia: A legal study. The Social Sciences, 10(1), 41-45. https://doi.org /10.36478/sscience.2015.41.45

• Marston, G., & Shevellar, L. (2010). The experience of using fringe lenders in Queensland: A pilot study. The University of Queensland. http://www.good4me.com.au/research/UQ_Marston%20and%20Shevalier%20The-Experience-of-Using-Fringe-Lenders-in-Queensland-A-Pilot-Study%20July%202010.pdf

• Ministry of Housing and Local Government. (2021). Active licensed moneylenders statistics 2020. https://www.data.gov.my/data/ms_MY/dataset/statistik-pemberi-pinjam-wang-dan-pemegang-pajak-gadai-berlesen-yang-aktif-mengikut-negeri

• Moneylenders Act 1951 (Act 400) & Regulations (2016). International Law Books Series. Golden Books Centre.

• Nyanchoka, L., Tudur-Smith, C., Porcher, R., & Hren, D. (2019). Key stakeholders’ perspectives and experiences with defining, identifying and displaying gaps in health research: A qualitative study protocol. British Medical Journal Open, 9(8), 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027926

• Norkus, Z. (2003). Consumer sovereignty: Theory and praxis. Problemos, 64, 9-24. https://doi.org/10.15388/Problemos.2003.64.5351

• Omar, M. F. H. M., & Ismail, S. H. S. (2019). Development of NGO governance in Malaysia: Lessons from Indonesia and Jordan. al-Qanatir: International Journal of Islamic Studies, 13(2), 70-80. http://www.al-qanatir.com/index.php/aq/article/view/146

• Paswan, A., & Chowdhury, J. (2015). Consumer protection issues and non-government Organizations (NGOs) in a Developing Market. Proceedings of the 2000 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference, 171-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11885-7_39

• Ramsay, I. (2006). Consumer law, regulatory capitalism and the new learning in regulation. Sydney Law Review, 28(1), 9-35. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/sydney28&div=4&id=&page=

• Ruziev, K., & Midmore, P. (2014). Informal credit institutions in transition countries: A study of urban money lenders in post-communist Uzbekistan. Post-Communist Economies, 26(3), 415-435. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631377.2014.937107

• Saldana, J. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.

• Tadajewski, M. (2018). Critical reflections on the marketing concept and consumer sovereignty. In Routledge companion to critical marketing (pp. 196-224). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315630526-12

• The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets. (2013). Behavioural economics and competition policy. Authority for Consumers and Markets. https://www.acm.nl/en/publications/publication/11610/ACM-publishes-study-into-behavioural-economics-and-competition-policy

• The Sun Daily. (2019, April 6). Licensed moneylenders now known as Credit Community. https://www.thesundaily.my/local/lincensed-money-lenders-now-known-as-credit-community-CB762422

• Teo, A. (2016), Market-based approach for moneylending in Malaysia. Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs. https://www.ideas.org.my/publications-item/seanet-perspective-no-9-market-based-approach-for-moneylending-in-malaysia/

• Williams, T. (2007). Empowerment of whom and for what? Financial literacy education and the new regulation of consumer financial services. Law & Policy, 29(2), 226-256. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2007.00254.x

• Wootliff, J., & Deri, C. (2001). NGOs: The new super brands. Corporate Reputation Review, 4(2), 157-164. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540140

• Yusoff, S. S. A., Isa, S. M., Aziz, A. A., & Chin, O. T. (2012). Corporate responsibility via Malaysian contract law: A concern for consumer protection. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 20(1), 227-238. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/153832224.pdf#page=241

• Zolkepli, F. (2020, April 21). Moneylenders: Let us resume business. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/04/21/moneylenders-let-us-resume-business