Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Ankele, a trading name of Ankele Co Za (Pty) Ltd ("we", "us", or "our"), is committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our micro-lending services, including the WhatsApp service, the web application, and the mobile app.

We comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and other applicable South African laws regarding data protection. Our Information Officer can be contacted at hello@ankele.co.za.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information that you provide directly to us, including:

• Personal identification information (name, ID number, date of birth)
• Contact information (phone number, email address, physical address)
• Financial information (income details, bank account information, employment status)
• Communication history related to your credit applications, across whichever channel you use
• Device and usage information when interacting with our service
• Biometric information, a photograph of your face (a "selfie") and a liveness check, and an image of your identity document, collected through our identity-verification partner Smile ID. This is special personal information under POPIA.
• Bank account and transaction information, with your consent, read-only access to your bank account and transaction history, obtained through our open-banking partner truID, to assess affordability.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Process and evaluate your credit applications
• Verify your identity and conduct credit assessments
• Communicate with you about your credit and our services
• Comply with legal and regulatory requirements
• Improve our services and customer experience
• Prevent fraud and ensure security

4. Special Personal Information (Biometric Data)

Verifying your identity requires a biometric check. With your explicit consent, Smile ID processes a selfie, a liveness check, and your ID document image solely to confirm that you are who you say you are and to prevent fraud. We do not use your biometric data for any other purpose. We retain it only as long as the law and our legitimate business purposes require. You may decline, but we cannot approve credit without verifying your identity.

5. Open Banking (truID)

To assess whether credit is affordable for you, as the National Credit Act requires, we use truID to obtain read-only access to your bank account and transaction history, with your consent. We use this information only to evaluate affordability and we retain it only as long as the law and our legitimate business purposes require. truID does not give us the ability to move money or change anything in your account.

6. Automated Decision-Making

Decisions about whether to offer you credit, and on what terms, are made by automated processing. We assess your declared information, your bank transaction data, and risk indicators to approve, decline, or refer your application for manual review. Under POPIA you have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you: you may request that a person review the decision and you may make representations. To do so, contact us at hello@ankele.co.za.

7. Information Sharing

We share your information only as needed to provide the service, with: identity verification (Smile ID), open-banking affordability checks (truID), payment and disbursement processing (Kwik), messaging (WhatsApp / Meta), our hosting providers (Vercel and Google Cloud, hosted in South Africa), registered credit bureaus, and regulatory authorities as required by law. Each acts as our operator under POPIA and is bound to process your information only on our instructions. We do not sell your personal information.

8. Where We Process Your Information

Your personal information is processed and stored in South Africa. Our primary infrastructure runs on Google Cloud (africa-south1 region) and Vercel (Cape Town / cpt1 region). Where any sub-processor processes data outside South Africa, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place in compliance with POPIA section 72.

9. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain your personal information only as long as the law and our legitimate business purposes require. Loan and credit records are retained for the minimum periods prescribed by the National Credit Act and other applicable legislation. Biometric and identity-verification data is kept only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected and to meet any legal obligations. Once retention is no longer justified, we securely delete or de-identify the information.

10. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. All data transmitted through our channels is encrypted in transit.

11. Cookies & Similar Technologies

We keep cookies to a minimum. We use a strictly necessary cookie to keep you signed in during an application, a security check from Cloudflare Turnstile to protect our forms, and privacy-friendly, cookieless analytics (Vercel Analytics) to understand how the site is used. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and we do not sell your data. You can control or clear cookies through your browser settings, but disabling the strictly necessary cookie will prevent you from signing in or applying.

12. Your Rights

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

• Access your personal information held by us
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your information (subject to legal requirements)
• Object to the processing of your information
• Request human review of any automated decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you, and to make representations
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator