What is Mono Lookup?
Mono Lookup is a suite of APIs that helps businesses securely verify the identity of individuals and businesses and the authenticity of identity information that they share. These APIs range from our KYC-relevant lookup APIs like the NIN, Driver’s License, house address verification, etc, to KYB-relevant lookup APIs like the Tax Identification Number (TIN) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) endpoints.
How does the Mono Lookup API work?
Some of the identity verification methods used by businesses today are often tedious and manual for users. Typically, they may require the user to wait hours of days before their identity information is verified. When this happens, it makes the onboarding process longer and increases user churn rates.
Using the Mono Lookup APIs for your identity verification process is much simpler. Here’s how it works:
On your app or website, you should prompt your users to enter their identity information, to ensure that they consent to you looking it up and verifying their identity.
After your users enter their Tax Identification Number (TIN), for example, you can now make an API call to the TIN Lookup endpoint to return their accurate data and confirm the authenticity of the identity information they shared.
With this information, you are now able to onboard your users faster and more securely.
Benefits of using Mono Lookup
Secure user onboarding: Being able to retrieve and verify the identity information of your users with the Mono Lookup APIs ensures that you can easily identify suspicious signups and keep your onboarding process secure and compliant.
Speed and stability: You can easily access and verify the identity data of businesses looking to use your service in real-time using various information like their TIN, account number, government-issued IDs, and more.
Seamless onboarding experiences: The onboarding experience for your users becomes more seamless and less stressful. With the Mono Lookup APIs, you can prove their identity within minutes and reduce signup churn.
Best practices for implementing the Mono Lookup API
To seamlessly integrate the Mono Lookup API into your product, here are some things you should consider:
Understand and follow the API documentation: Carefully read and understand the Mono Lookup API documentation to ensure the correct usage of endpoints, request parameters, and headers.
Securely manage your Mono secret key: Your Mono secret key is sensitive information, so you should store it securely and ensure it is not exposed in client-side code or publicly accessible repositories.
Validate inputted data: Before making API calls, validate the inputted data like the company names or RC numbers to ensure that it adheres to the expected format and prevents errors in the Lookup process.
Handle API responses appropriately: Implement robust error handling to manage different types of responses from the API, including successful responses, errors, or unexpected results.
How to implement the Mono Lookup API into your product
To get started with implementing our KYB-relevant Lookup APIs (TIN & CAC Lookup) into your onboarding flow, follow these steps:
If you’re using Mono for the first time
Create a Mono account here
Submit all required business documents and complete the compliance process.
Create an app on the Mono dashboard and select
Lookupas your product scope. Here’s how to create an app and choose your product scope.Lastly, make sure you have your App keys. Here is a guide on how to generate your secret key on the Mono dashboard.
Note that you need your App secret key to make a call to any Mono endpoint. The mono-sec-key (secret key) is used in the headers to make a successful request.
If you already have a Mono account
Log into your Mono dashboard (app.mono.co/)
Create an app on the Mono dashboard and select
Lookupas your product scope.Then generate your App keys to start the integration process.
Initiating the Mono Tax Identification Number (TIN) Lookup endpoint
The TIN Lookup API enables you to verify and return the accurate tax information associated with a business, using their Tax Identification Number (TIN).
To integrate the TIN Lookup into your product, first, you will need to send a request to the endpoint below.
Then pass the business’ tax identification number and the channel in the body request along with your secret key in the headers
Expected Response
If the call above is successful, you will get a response similar to what is retrieved below. In the response below, you can see important fields like the CAC registration number and RC Number, tax information, the company’s address and contact information like phone number and email. This can be compared with other provided information to determine its veracity.
Initiating the Mono Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Lookup endpoint
The CAC Lookup endpoint is used to validate and retrieve a business’ registration details using their business name or RC number.
This endpoint is divided into two categories, the Lookup a business and the Retrieve shareholder details APIs. Depending on your use case, you can choose to simply look up a business name to determine its authenticity or you can go further to validate information regarding the company’s shareholders, directly from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
1. Search company
To look up a business, you need to make a request to the endpoint below.
Then, you have to pass the name of the company or the RC Number as a query parameter with the secret key as the header. The name of the business should be written as provided by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Expected Response
If the API request is successful, you will receive a response similar to the image below, containing the address, registration date, and business status.
From the response, you can verify that said business exists, the place of operations i.e. an office and the RC number. The status field is important as it lets you know if the business registration is active or not. You can also confirm the business registration date.
2. Retrieve shareholder details
To get the shareholder information of a business, you need to make a request to the endpoint below.
Then, you have to pass the ID returned from the “Lookup a business” endpoint as a path parameter along with the secret key as the header.
Expected Response
When data retrieval is successful, you will receive a JSON response containing information about the company’s shareholders, including the shareholders’ name, gender, nationality, address, contact information, etc, as shown in the image below.
With the response received, you can verify information about the shareholders of the business. This also comes in handy for business due diligence and compliance processes.
3. Previous business address
As a business, you can also check the previous address of your users (business address). You can do this with Mono by calling the endpoint below.
Next, you have to pass the ID returned from the “Search Company” endpoint as a path parameter along with the secret key as the header.
Expected Response
When data retrieval is successful, you will receive a JSON response containing information about the company’s previous address comparing it with the most current address retrieved in the company search as shown in the image below.
With the response received, you can verify information about all known addresses of the company and when the changes may have occurred.
4. Change of name
Sometimes businesses need to confirm the previous names of a company. You can do this by making a request to the endpoint.
Then, you have to pass the ID returned from the “Search Company” endpoint as a path parameter along with the secret key as the header.
Expected Response
When data retrieval is successful, you get a JSON response containing information about the company’s previous and current names as shown in the image below.
With the response received, you can verify information about all known names of the company and when the changes occurred
5. Look up a secretary
To retrieve the details of the company secretary(s), you need to send a request to the endpoint below.
Similarly to the other CAC endpoints, you have to pass the ID returned from the “Search Company” endpoint as a path parameter along with the secret key as the header.
Expected Response
When data retrieval is successful, you get a JSON response containing very detailed information about the company secretary.
With the response received, you can verify and ascertain information about the company and perform necessary compliance processes.
6. Look up directors
There are cases where you may require the company director's information. By sending a request to the endpoint below, you can retrieve such details.
Here, you also have to pass the ID returned from the “Search Company” endpoint as a path parameter along with the secret key as the header.
Expected Response
A JSON response containing information about the company director(s) is returned when the call is successful as shown in the image below.
With the response received, you can verify information, perform due diligence and compliance processes on the listed directors of the company.
The Mono Lookup suite, BVN, account number, NIN/VNIN, International Passport, Driver’s License, House address, TIN, and CAC endpoints, is a great way for your business to seamlessly verify information about customers without going through manual verification processes. If you are interested in integrating KYB/business verification lookup services or other Mono Lookup APIs into your onboarding experience, you can sign up to get started or you can reach out to us via sales@mono.co. To learn more about integrating the Lookup API, check out our API documentation and if you experience any integration issues, you can email us at integrations@mono.co, and we will be happy to assist.
