Secure access to user-permissioned financial data, as the core of open banking, allows businesses to offer individuals innovative financial services, giving them more value using these data and insights. Over two million bank consumers have securely shared their financial transaction information successfully with businesses using Mono Connect in the last two years.
Due to the nature of access to Open Banking, there still exists a barrier to entry for users who are not traditionally banked. In Nigeria, for instance, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) data shows that 37 million adults are without an active bank account as of May 29, 2022 — representing 36.8 percent of the adult population. This leaves innovators and their services out of reach for these segments of customers.
Last month, we began experimenting with enabling more businesses to extend their service offering to underbanked consumers by leveraging alternative data sources to drive financial inclusion, help businesses make data-informed decisions, and build new products by accessing customers' mobile network data across emerging economies.
Today, we are excited to announce the Mono Telco data API to businesses in Nigeria. With your users’ consent, you can securely retrieve reliable telco data to build inclusive products, offer more personalized experiences, and make more data-informed decisions for your business and users.
Why Telco Data?
Telcos are some of the world’s largest granular data aggregators, with a direct connection to millions of consumers. Today, Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest mobile markets, accounting for over 204.2 million mobile subscribers and a mobile penetration rate of > 87% of the population. With the number of mobile subscribers across the networks expected to increase over the coming years, Telco data can open businesses to a new source of data to make informed decisions on consumer behavior. In turn, more underbanked customers can access more relevant financial services.
What data can businesses retrieve?
User Identity - Full name, phone number, Gender, NIN, date of birth, address.
Balances - Airtime, data, and SMS balances.
Account information - Full name, phone number, account type, balance, currency.
Transaction history - Airtime and data usage history, Airtime and data top-up history, Airtime and data borrowing history
How businesses are using the Mono Telco Data API
Consumer Insights - Businesses can rely on telco information to summarise relevant user insights and predict potential user behavior based on transaction history.
Alternative credit scoring - Successful lending relies heavily on creditworthiness assessment. Achieving this with customers in the traditionally banked population is much easier, as users have clear financial statements that can be assessed and used to form a profile. For the underbanked, lending and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) businesses have more difficulty accessing financial data points and often rely on self-reported financial information. Access to alternative but reliable data points from an underbanked user’s telco network can help businesses build a suitable credit profile.
How to use the Mono Telco Data API
To get started with Mono’s Telco Data API, you’ll need to have an active and verified business account on Mono.
If you already do, this detailed, step-by-step guide will help you integrate the Telco API into your app.
Questions you might have and answers to them
Can all partners access this feature?
Yes, Telco Data is available to active and verified businesses that use Mono in Nigeria.
How much does it cost to use the Telco API?
Telco Data costs ₦100 per connected Telco account.
If you have any questions or feedback to share, please email us at support@mono.co — we'd love to hear from you!
