Tala Kenya API integration & OpenFinance data services

Authorization & session bridge

Mirror the Tala mobile sign-in flow (phone number + device attestation + one-time code) into a server-side session bridge. We handle refresh tokens, rotating device IDs, and re-binding when the user reinstalls the app, so downstream services keep a stable customer identifier for risk scoring.

Credit line & limit snapshot

A single endpoint returns current approved limit (KSh 1,000–50,000), outstanding principal, accrued daily interest, next due date, and Tala's "good standing" flag. Used by lenders-of-last-resort, BNPL partners and employer advance products to make same-minute underwriting decisions.

Disbursement event stream

Every time Tala pays out to the user's M-PESA wallet, we emit a structured event with amount, timestamp, receipt ID, and linked loan contract. The stream is built to sit next to Safaricom Daraja callbacks, so an ERP can reconcile Tala-originated inflows alongside other M-PESA receipts.

Repayment & Paybill reconciliation

Partial and full repayments to Paybill 851900 or via M-PESA Xpress are normalised into a single repayment entity: principal vs interest split, overdue status, 8% late-fee triggers, and waterfall allocation. This is the core data used by collections CRMs and cash-flow forecasting tools.

Statement export & audit trail

Generate a month-by-month statement — opening balance, daily interest, disbursements, repayments, closing balance — as JSON, CSV, PDF or XLSX. Useful for personal finance managers, accountants, and data-portability requests under the Kenya Data Protection Act.

Referral & rewards tracking

Tala's referral programme credits KSh 500 off the next borrow when a friend is onboarded. We expose referral IDs, conversion timestamps and credit application status so growth teams can attribute campaigns and feed LTV models without scraping the app UI.

1. Personal finance aggregator (B2C)

A Nairobi-based money manager wants to pull a user's full Tala credit line alongside M-Shwari, KCB M-PESA and Fuliza balances into one view. We wire Tala's limit, outstanding and next_due fields into an OpenFinance-style aggregator schema, mapping amounts, dates and receipts so that the app can compute total borrowing cost across lenders with one call.

2. SME cash-flow forecasting

Micro-merchants often top up inventory via Tala and repay from M-PESA till earnings. We pipe Tala disbursement events + Paybill 851900 repayments into their accounting stack, then reconcile against Daraja C2B callbacks. The result: a day-by-day view of "Tala-funded inventory" vs. "till revenue", used to trigger restock orders.

3. Alternative credit bureau feed

Second-tier lenders want to avoid stacking on top of an active Tala line. An authorised pull — with the user's explicit consent under the Data Protection Act 2019 — returns current utilisation, days overdue, and repayment cadence. This OpenData-style signal reduces default risk without waiting for CRB file updates.

4. Employer-led salary advance

An employer earned-wage-access product checks whether a worker is already carrying a Tala balance before approving a payroll advance. Our API returns available limit, outstanding principal and upcoming due date; the employer app then sizes the advance so that combined repayments stay inside an affordability threshold aligned with CBK digital lending guidance.

5. Accounting & tax export

For accountants serving self-employed borrowers, we generate a monthly statement export (JSON/XLSX/PDF) — principal drawn, interest charged at 0.3%–0.6% per day, late fees, and repayments — ready to post into QuickBooks, Xero or Zoho Books as a short-term liability plus interest expense lines.

1. Authorization handshake (pseudocode)

POST /api/v1/tala/session
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "phone": "+2547XXXXXXXX",
  "device_id": "dev_9f3c...",
  "otp": "384192",
  "consent": {
    "scope": ["credit_line.read", "statements.read", "disbursements.read"],
    "dp_act_2019_ack": true
  }
}

200 OK
{
  "customer_id": "tala_c_8823",
  "access_token": "eyJhbGciOi...",
  "refresh_token": "rt_4e1...",
  "expires_in": 1800,
  "good_standing": true
}

2. Credit line & statement query

GET /api/v1/tala/credit-line?from=2026-03-01&to=2026-03-31
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>

200 OK
{
  "currency": "KES",
  "approved_limit": 32000,
  "outstanding_principal": 10000,
  "accrued_interest": 360,
  "daily_rate": 0.003,
  "apr_range": [1.095, 2.190],
  "next_due_date": "2026-04-28",
  "statement": [
    {"date":"2026-03-05","type":"disbursement","amount":10000,"receipt":"MPX7A1BC2D"},
    {"date":"2026-03-06","type":"interest","amount":30},
    {"date":"2026-03-20","type":"repayment","amount":4000,"channel":"paybill_851900"}
  ]
}

3. Disbursement & repayment webhook

POST https://your-backend.example.com/webhooks/tala
X-Tala-Signature: t=1713542400,v1=9c0e...
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "event": "loan.repayment.received",
  "customer_id": "tala_c_8823",
  "loan_id": "ln_5511",
  "amount": 4000,
  "channel": "mpesa_xpress",
  "paid_at": "2026-03-20T09:14:02+03:00",
  "allocation": {"principal": 3880, "interest": 120, "late_fee": 0},
  "overdue_days": 0
}

// Error handling: 4xx => do not retry; 5xx => exponential backoff
// Idempotency-Key header required on webhook consumer side

Deliverables checklist

• OpenAPI / Swagger specification for every endpoint
• Protocol & authorization report (token chain, device binding, OTP flow)
• Runnable source in Python or Node.js for session, credit-line, statement and webhook handlers
• Postman collection + automated integration tests
• Compliance pack aligned with CBK DCP Regulations and Kenya Data Protection Act 2019
• Deployment notes: rate limits, retry strategy, monitoring hooks

Engagement models

• Source code delivery from $300 — we hand over runnable API source code plus documentation; pay after delivery upon satisfaction.
• Pay-per-call API billing — use our hosted endpoints and pay only per call, with no upfront cost.
• Optional: NDA, staging sandbox, and a quarterly protocol-drift review to keep integrations running as the app updates.

Typical modules

• Session bridge & token refresh
• Credit line snapshot + limit history
• Disbursement & repayment webhooks
• Statement export (JSON / CSV / XLSX / PDF)
• Paybill 851900 reconciliation helper
• Referral ledger & reward attribution

About our studio

We are an independent technical studio focused on App interface integration and authorized API integration for global clients. Our engineers come from fintech, mobile payments, protocol analysis and cloud infrastructure backgrounds, with direct experience on Kenyan M-PESA, UPI, PIX and European Open Banking rails.

For digital lending apps like Tala we run a repeatable pipeline: protocol & authorization analysis → endpoint specification → runnable implementation → compliance review → documentation & handover. Each step is designed so the final source code is genuinely production-ready rather than a demo.

• Coverage across financial, e-commerce, travel, social and OTT apps
• Android + iOS reverse-engineering and protocol analysis (authorised use only)
• Python, Node.js and Go SDKs with test harnesses
• Source code delivery from $300 — receive runnable API source code and full documentation; pay after delivery upon satisfaction
• Pay-per-call API billing — use our hosted endpoints and pay only per call, no upfront cost

Contact

Ready to connect Tala — or any other Kenyan digital lender — to your stack? Send us the app name and your requirements and we will reply with scope and timeline.

Go to contact page

Engagement workflow

1. Scope confirmation: credit-line APIs, disbursement events, repayment webhooks, statement exports.
2. Protocol & authorization analysis (2–5 business days).
3. Implementation and internal validation (3–8 business days).
4. Documentation, sample code and test cases (1–2 business days).
5. Typical first delivery: 5–15 business days, subject to sandbox availability.

FAQ

What do you need from us to start?

How do you handle Kenya-specific compliance?

Can you extend the same integration to other lenders?