By Winston Osuchukwu | Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mathesis Analytics
For decades, credit risk assessment in Nigeria has rested on an
incomplete foundation. Lenders—whether deposit money banks,
microfinance institutions, or digital finance operators—price credit
largely on the basis of data they alone have collected about a borrower.
This institutional insularity is often deliberate, and it costs the
Nigerian borrower dearly. The concept we advance here, Personal Equity,
challenges this status quo at its root.
PERSONAL EQUITY IS THE QUANTIFIED EXPRESSION OF AN INDIVIDUAL’S
FINANCIAL BEHAVIOUR, AGGREGATED ACROSS EVERY INSTITUTION WITH WHICH THEY
HAVE TRANSACTED AND TRANSLATED INTO A PRECISE, PORTABLE MEASURE OF
CREDITWORTHINESS. IT IS, IN ESSENCE, A PERSON’S CREDIT IDENTITY—NOT
AS A SINGLE LENDER PERCEIVES IT, BUT AS THE FULL BREADTH OF THEIR
FINANCIAL LIFE REFLECTS IT.
The distinction is material. A borrower who faithfully repays a
microfinance loan, consistently saves through a fintech wallet, and
services a BNPL facility without default has demonstrated coherent
financial responsibility. Yet under Nigeria’s prevailing
infrastructure, that pattern is invisible to any lender they have not
yet transacted with. Each new relationship begins from near-zero, and
the borrower is priced accordingly—not because they are risky, but
because their risk is unmeasured.
THE CREDIT REPORTING ACT 2017 AND THE CBN’S BUREAU LICENSING FRAMEWORK
WERE DESIGNED TO ADDRESS THIS. CREDIT BUREAUS EXIST AS THE AUTHORISED
REPOSITORIES FOR INDIVIDUAL CREDIT DATA. IN PRINCIPLE, LENDERS MUST
SUBMIT INFORMATION TO THEM AND CONSULT THEM IN DECISIONING.
In practice, the system is undermined by selective compliance. Negative
data is reported more consistently than positive behavioural data, and
institutions that have built a granular picture of their customers have
little incentive to share it with competitors. The consequence falls on
the borrower: an individual whose repayment discipline and savings
consistency are richly documented but poorly shared is perpetually
undervalued. They overpay for credit they could access more cheaply, or
are excluded from credit they objectively qualify for.
THE NIGERIA DATA PROTECTION ACT 2023, ADMINISTERED BY THE NDPC,
ESTABLISHES THAT PERSONAL DATA—INCLUDING FINANCIAL BEHAVIOURAL
DATA—BELONGS IN A MEANINGFUL SENSE TO THE DATA SUBJECT. INSTITUTIONS
ARE PROCESSORS AND CONTROLLERS WITHIN DEFINED PURPOSES; THEY ARE NOT ITS
OWNERS. A BORROWER’S REPAYMENT HISTORY AND TRANSACTION PATTERNS ARE
GENERATED BY THEIR OWN CONDUCT, AND THE VALUE EMBEDDED IN THAT DATA IS A
PRODUCT OF THEIR DISCIPLINE. THAT THEY CANNOT PRESENTLY EXTRACT AND
DEPLOY THAT VALUE IS A FUNCTION OF MARKET STRUCTURE, NOT OF ANY
PRINCIPLED LEGAL POSITION. PERSONAL EQUITY OPERATIONALISES THE
RECOGNITION THAT THIS DATA IS AN ASSET OF THE INDIVIDUAL, MAKING IT
PORTABLE AND COMMERCIALLY MEANINGFUL.
MATHESIS ANALYTICS HAS BUILT THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO MAKE PERSONAL EQUITY
A PRACTICAL REALITY. OUR PLATFORM INTEGRATES DIRECTLY WITH THE CORE
BANKING SYSTEMS OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, ENABLING THE AUTOMATIC,
CONTINUOUS UPDATING OF AN INDIVIDUAL’S PROFILE AND SCORE AS NEW DATA
IS GENERATED. CRITICALLY, OUR ARCHITECTURE IS NOT LIMITED TO A SINGLE
INSTITUTION: WE AGGREGATE BEHAVIOURAL SIGNALS ACROSS MULTIPLE
RELATIONSHIPS AND ENRICH THEM WITH ALTERNATIVE DATA—TELCO USAGE,
UTILITY PAYMENTS, AND OTHER INDICATORS OF FINANCIAL CHARACTER OUTSIDE
THE FORMAL BANKING SYSTEM. THIS MATTERS IN A MARKET WHERE A SUBSTANTIAL
SHARE OF THE ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE POPULATION REMAINS UNDERBANKED OR
THIN-FILE. TO DATE, MATHESIS HAS SCORED OVER 40 MILLION INDIVIDUALS AND
ENABLED MORE THAN $272 MILLION IN CREDIT DISBURSEMENTS ACROSS NIGERIA.
THE CASE FOR PERSONAL EQUITY IS NOT MERELY ONE OF BORROWER FAIRNESS; IT
IS EQUALLY AN ARGUMENT FOR MARKET EFFICIENCY. NIGERIA’S CREDIT MARKETS
ARE CHARACTERISED BY SPREADS THAT ARE WIDE RELATIVE TO ACTUAL RISK AND
EXCLUSION RATIOS THAT ARE HIGH RELATIVE TO THE CREDITWORTHY
POPULATION—MUCH OF IT ATTRIBUTABLE TO INFORMATION ASYMMETRY. LENDERS
WHO CANNOT PRICE AN INDIVIDUAL’S RISK EITHER EXCLUDE THAT INDIVIDUAL
OR PRICE CONSERVATIVELY, AND BOTH OUTCOMES ARE DEADWEIGHT LOSS.
This aligns directly with the CBN’s financial inclusion agenda. The
challenge of inclusion in Nigeria has never primarily been one of
product or distribution; it has been one of information. By creating a
complete, multi-source, continuously updated picture of
creditworthiness—built on the customer’s consent and consistent with
the NDPA, the CBN’s open banking frameworks, and global best
practice—Personal Equity addresses the gap that has kept creditworthy
Nigerians outside the formal system.
NIGERIA’S CREDIT MARKET HAS LONG OPERATED ON THE PREMISE THAT RISK IS
AN INSTITUTIONAL PERCEPTION RATHER THAN AN INDIVIDUAL REALITY. PERSONAL
EQUITY CHALLENGES THAT PREMISE, ASSERTING THAT AN INDIVIDUAL’S
FINANCIAL BEHAVIOUR IS A QUANTIFIABLE, PORTABLE, AND VALUABLE ASSET THAT
OUGHT TO WORK IN THEIR INTEREST. AT MATHESIS, WE HAVE BUILT THE
INFRASTRUCTURE TO MAKE THAT OPERATIONAL. THE DATA EXISTS. THE TECHNOLOGY
EXISTS. WHAT REMAINS IS THE COLLECTIVE WILL TO DEPLOY IT.
Mathesis Analytics is a Nigerian-incorporated AI-powered credit
decisioning and scoring platform that has scored over 40 million
individuals and enabled more than $272 million in credit disbursements
across Nigeria.
