How Calibre Check works
Calibre Check lists what official records say about a business. Every line is a statement with a named source, the date Calibre observed it, and an evidence grade. Statements are written from fixed templates. No model writes them and no one opinion is added.
Sources
Check is built to read these registers. A register is fetched automatically only after a person has reviewed its terms of reuse. Until then, Calibre uses facts a person has copied by hand from the public register. The source of each statement is printed on the statement.
| Register | Authority |
|---|---|
| CAC Public Search (companies, business names, incorporated trustees) | Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) |
| Manually entered CAC facts, copied by hand from the public CAC search | Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) |
| FCCPC register of digital lenders | Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) |
| SEC Nigeria public warnings and unregistered-operator notices | Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria (SEC) |
| SEC Nigeria registered capital-market operators | Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria (SEC) |
| CBN licensed financial institutions | Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) |
| NAFDAC Greenbook (registered products) | National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) |
| LASRERA register of real estate practitioners | Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) |
Business listings that Calibre gathers from Google are a starting point for finding a business. They can link a business to a record. They are never a statement in a report.
Evidence grades
| Grade | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Grade A | Official record, exact identifier. A register record linked to the business by an exact identifier: an RC, BN or IT number, or a licence number. |
| Grade B | Official record, reviewed match. A register record linked to the business by a match that a person at Calibre reviewed and confirmed. |
| Grade C | First-party evidence. Evidence supplied first-hand, such as a complaint or an escrow event, published with the business's right of reply. Not used yet. |
Grade D never appears. A possible match that nobody has confirmed, or a record that Calibre could not tie to the business, is held back. It produces no statement anywhere on this site or in Calibre's data.
What a statement means
- A register listed this record, on the date shown.
- The record was linked to the business by the identifier or the review described by its grade.
- The wording is fixed by the method version below.
What a statement does not mean
- It is not a rating, a score or a safety rating. Calibre Check does not tell you whether to deal with a business.
- Absence from a register is not evidence of wrongdoing. Many sound businesses are not on every register.
- Records can be out of date. Read the observed date on each statement.
- Business names are not unique. Calibre links records by identifier, not by name alone, and does not merge businesses on a similar name.
- A phone number tells you nothing about the network that serves it. Numbers move between networks.
- An account number that passes the check digit is plausible for that bank. That does not show that the account exists or who owns it. The check digit follows CBN NUBAN standard (Proposals on the Implementation of NUBAN Scheme, v0.4).
Signals on payment details
When you check an account number, phone number, website or handle, Check may show signals. Each has a level that describes the evidence, and each names its source.
- Information: a match to a record, or a check that could not run.
- Caution: no record is linked to the detail, or a public notice names the matched business.
- Risk: the detail is malformed, or an account number fails the published check digit.
Method version and updates
- Method version: check-v0. It changes whenever the wording or a grading rule changes.
- Data is published in releases. Each report shows its data version, and each statement and history entry shows the date the record was observed.
- Changes to a record are kept as history, so you can see what was added, changed or removed and when.
Think a statement is wrong? Ask for a correction or removal.