Financial inclusion in South Africa remains constrained despite widespread bank account ownership. Millions of South Africans can open an account, yet cannot meaningfully use that account to access formal financial services. An estimated 21 million thin-file or credit-invisible consumers, many of them young people, informal earners, or newcomers to the workforce—are excluded from affordable credit, insurance, and wealth-building tools. They transact frequently, but the data reflecting their economic lives rarely translates into financial opportunity.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), data-sharing frameworks and open-banking systems, when properly regulated, materially expand access to credit by enabling consumers to share their financial data securely and with consent. Countries that have implemented such frameworks have seen improved credit assessment accuracy and greater inclusion of underserved populations. In South Africa, where traditional bureau-based scoring is inadequate for millions, this shift is increasingly essential.
Across the industry, credit providers now rely heavily on verified bank-transaction data to assess real affordability. With truID enabling 95% of South Africa’s online credit market, lenders depend on secure, consent-based data extraction and categorisation to power affordability models, highlighting the growing demand for usable, trusted financial data. The potential to unlock opportunity for 21 million thin-file South Africans lies in enabling lenders to access high-quality, verified data.
truID’s document-digitisation solutions, powered by secure, consent-based screen scraping and advanced AI OCR—play a central role in converting raw bank-statement information into accurate, decision-ready data. With the capacity to digitise and categorise more than 200,000 documents every month, truID provides lenders with the scale, precision, and reliability needed to assess real affordability and responsibly extend credit to consumers who would otherwise remain invisible to the formal financial system.
The Thin-File Problem and Its Economic Impact
Thin-file consumers are not financially inactive—they are simply invisible to traditional models. Many earn income through informal work, gig assignments, seasonal labour, or micro-enterprise. The informal sector contributes R300–R350 billion annually to the economy, generated by roughly 5.1 million workers, yet this activity is rarely captured in bureau datasets. With improved access to transaction-level data and suitable risk models, this sector alone could unlock R30–R87 billion in additional productivity and growth.
The opportunity is equally significant at a household level. If just 10% of the credit-invisible population accessed R10,000 in productive credit, more than R21 billion could flow into small enterprises, education, mobility improvements, and digital-services spending, cumulatively driving GDP gains exceeding R30 billion. Even marginal shifts in financial inclusion can materially transform lives.
How Open Banking Reshapes the Narrative
Open banking allows consumers to share their financial data in a secure, consent-driven, standardised way. For thin-file customers, this can be transformative. Rather than relying solely on incomplete bureau records, lenders can evaluate verified cashflows, spending patterns, income regularity, and behavioural indicators.
Where outdated models fall short, transaction-level insight succeeds. truID’s work with lenders demonstrates this:
- Automated affordability assessments reduce bad-debt risk by grounding decisions in real transaction data.
- Early indicators in the development of transaction-based scoring models show a 30–40% uplift in new client identification for credit providers that they would have alternatively rejected due to thin file.
These results prove that inclusive data models are both socially impactful and commercially superior.
A Path Toward Inclusive Growth
South Africa’s shift towards open banking is still in its early phases, and regulatory intervention remains essential. With many banks either blocking screen-scraping or limiting credit-related data access, millions remain stuck behind fragmented systems. A future where open APIs are free, regulated, secure, and standardised, consistent with global practice, would accelerate innovation and expand access to opportunity.
Yet, it’s important to recognise that South Africa does not currently have a regulated open banking framework. Access to data is still largely dependent on proprietary mechanisms, with banks selectively exposing APIs and, in some cases, restricting credit-related access altogether. As a result, much of the innovation enabling financial inclusion—including the digitisation and sharing of transaction data—continues to rely on safe, consent-based screen scraping. Until regulation is in place, this remains the only practical bridge between consumers and the financial opportunities they deserve.
A New Era of Empowerment
Open banking represents a pivotal moment in South Africa’s financial evolution. For the 21 million thin-file South Africans excluded from meaningful financial access, it offers a pathway to agency, one where everyday transaction data becomes a tool for upward mobility.
The future of inclusion will not be defined merely by access to bank accounts, but by the ability to harness the data behind those accounts to unlock financial opportunity. As secure, consent-driven data sharing becomes standard, tools like those built by truID will help translate everyday transactions into tangible pathways for credit access, security, and growth.
The real promise of open banking isn’t just about data access, it’s about dignity, empowerment, and choice. When 21 million South Africans can finally be seen by the system, the impact extends beyond credit scores, it changes lives, families, and futures.
We are keen to hear your thoughts: How can lenders balance responsible lending with expanding access to consumers currently invisible to the formal financial system?
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