Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible for your information

This Privacy Policy explains how Katlego Nexus (Pty) Ltd, trading as Katlego Financial Services ("Katlego Finance", "we", "us", "our"), the responsible party as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information in connection with the Katlego Finance SME platform. Our registration number and registered address will be inserted here once confirmed. You can contact our Information Officer at support@katlegofinance.co.za for any privacy related query.

This policy applies to the Katlego Finance SME platform only. Katlego Professionals and Katlego Students, our financial literacy simulation products, are governed by their own separate privacy policies published on their respective websites.

2. Information we collect

2.1 Information you provide to us

Account and business information: your name, contact details, business name, registration details, and role within the business.
Identity and verification information: identity document details, proof of address, and other information reasonably required for our know your business and know your customer processes.
Banking and payment information: bank account details needed to process settlements, guarantee payouts, or subscription billing, collected and processed through our payment services partner.
Invoicing and ledger data: the customers, invoices, payments, and credit notes you record on the platform, including personal information relating to your own customers where they are natural persons.
Imported data: any data you choose to upload through our CSV import feature.
Support communications: information you provide when you contact us for support.

2.2 Information collected automatically

Usage data: how you interact with the platform, including features used, pages visited, and actions taken.
Device and technical data: IP address, browser type, device identifiers, and similar technical information.
Risk and behavioural data: payment timing, invoice patterns, and related data generated through your use of the platform, used to calculate the Debtor Health Index and related features.

3. Why we collect and how we use your information

We process personal information for the following purposes, each with a lawful basis under POPIA as indicated.

To create and administer your account, and to provide the core invoicing, ledger, and risk scoring features (necessary for the performance of our contract with you).
To calculate the Debtor Health Index and to operate the invoice protection, payment links, credit check, and benchmarking features you choose to use (necessary for the performance of our contract with you).
To process payments, settlements, and subscription billing through our payment services partner (necessary for the performance of our contract with you).
To verify your identity and comply with our know your business, know your customer, and anti money laundering obligations (necessary to comply with a legal obligation).
To detect, investigate, and prevent fraud or misuse of the platform (our legitimate interest, and that of other users, in a secure platform).
To communicate with you about your account, respond to support requests, and send service related notices (necessary for the performance of our contract with you).
To send you marketing communications about our products, where you have consented, and which you may opt out of at any time (consent).
To comply with our obligations to regulators, our underwriting partner, and our payment services partner (necessary to comply with a legal obligation or contract).

4. Information about your own customers

When you use Katlego Finance to invoice or manage your own customers, you may enter personal information about those individuals, such as their name and contact details. In that relationship, you act as the responsible party for that personal information, and Katlego Finance acts as an operator on your behalf, processing that information only to provide the platform to you and in accordance with your instructions and this policy. You are responsible for ensuring you have a lawful basis to provide us with your own customers' personal information, including, where required, having informed them of this processing.

5. Sharing your information

We do not sell your personal information. We share personal information only in the following circumstances.

With our underwriting partner, a licensed and regulated South African insurer or cell captive arrangement, to the extent necessary to bind and administer invoice protection you have requested.
With our payment services partner, a regulated payment services provider, to the extent necessary to process payments, payment links, and settlements.
With our cloud hosting and infrastructure providers, who process information on our behalf under appropriate confidentiality and security obligations.
In aggregated and anonymised form only, as part of the pre-extension credit check and cash flow benchmarking features, where no individual business's specific, identifiable data is disclosed to another user.
Where required by law, regulation, a court order, or a lawful request from a regulator such as the Financial Sector Conduct Authority or the Information Regulator.
With a successor entity in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to that entity being bound by materially equivalent privacy obligations.

We will name our underwriting and payment services partners specifically in this section once those relationships are finalised and disclosure is appropriate.

6. Where your information is stored

We store and process personal information primarily on infrastructure located within South Africa. Where any processing occurs outside South Africa, including through a hosting or subprocessor arrangement, we will ensure that transfer complies with the cross border transfer requirements of POPIA, including that the recipient is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, or an agreement that provides an adequate level of protection.

7. How long we keep your information

We retain personal information for as long as your account is active, and for a reasonable period afterward as required to comply with our legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce our agreements. Financial and transaction records relating to invoice protection are retained for the period required by applicable financial services and insurance record keeping regulation. Where information is no longer required, we will delete or anonymise it.

8. Security

We apply technical and organisational measures designed to protect your personal information, including encryption, access controls, and multi tenant data isolation. Full detail is set out in our separate Data Protection and Security Policy, which forms part of this Privacy Policy by reference.

9. Your rights under POPIA

You have the right, subject to POPIA, to:

Request access to the personal information we hold about you.
Request correction of inaccurate or outdated personal information.
Request deletion of personal information we no longer have a lawful basis to hold.
Object to processing of your personal information carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest.
Withdraw consent, where processing is based on consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe we have processed your personal information unlawfully.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@katlegofinance.co.za. We will respond within the timeframes required by POPIA.

10. Cookies

The Katlego Finance platform uses strictly necessary cookies to keep you securely logged in and to remember your session, and may use analytics cookies to help us understand how the platform is used, where you have consented to non essential cookies. You can control cookies through your browser settings, though disabling strictly necessary cookies may prevent parts of the platform from working correctly.

11. Children

The Katlego Finance SME platform is intended for business use by persons 18 years or older and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children through this platform. Our separate Katlego Students product has its own age appropriate consent process, described in its own privacy policy.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy at any time, at our own discretion, to reflect changes to our platform, our business, or applicable law. An updated version takes effect from the moment it is published on this page, and the date shown at the top of this page tells you when it last changed.

We are not obliged to notify you of a change, and you should not rely on receiving a notice. It is your responsibility to review this page regularly so that you are aware of the current version. We will make reasonable efforts to keep this page up to date and to show the date of the most recent update, but that is a courtesy to you and not an obligation on us.

If you continue to access or use the Katlego Finance platform after an updated version is published, you accept the updated version and it becomes binding on you. If you do not accept an updated version, you must stop using the platform, and you may cancel your account in accordance with our Refund and Cancellation Policy.

Where we have kept a previous version, we will provide it on request to support@katlegofinance.co.za.

Where South African law expressly requires us to notify you of a particular change, including any notification required under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013, we will give that notice.

13. Contact us

For any question about this Privacy Policy, or to exercise your rights under POPIA, contact us at support@katlegofinance.co.za. You may also contact the Information Regulator of South Africa directly regarding any concern about how we process your personal information.