In a heavily competitive market, legacy technology is one of the biggest challenges stopping mortgage lenders from becoming profitable. At the same time, the industry is evolving faster than ever, and lenders need to be able to react and adapt quickly; all while handling increasing loan volumes.
Your customers expect better, and new competitors are offering just that
The world is embracing digitisation, and that trend extends to mortgages, albeit as an industry it was slower on the uptake until the pandemic hit. Lenders expect direct applications to grow and make up 40% of the channel mix by 2025. * It’s therefore clear that lenders will need a scalable and agile digital offering.
Customers, meanwhile, have come to expect speed, transparency, and efficiency in their digital interactions. This desire for Amazon-like experiences in any digital transaction is shaking up the mortgage industry, and while progress was made during the pandemic, digital transformation priorities are now shifting more towards cost-cutting in the post-covid era, meaning customers’ digital expectations aren’t fully being met.
But who is meeting that untapped need? Newer fintechs are starting to enter the mortgage market, often through acquisitions (e.g., Starling Bank acquiring Fleet Mortgages or Zoopla buying YourKeys), which is further consolidating the mortgage value chain. Plus, these newer entrants are offering customers the superior home buying experience they want, not hindered by legacy tech in the same way as traditional lenders.
What does the future look like for mortgage technology?
Over 72% of lenders have reported a growth in IT budget for 2022*, showing the industry looking towards technology to overcome these customer experience and efficiency hurdles.
Open Banking
One of the biggest trends we’re seeing is a change in mindset toward Open Banking in mortgages. It is increasingly being considered as a way to seamlessly integrate customer data into the loan process, helping to reduce the number of steps required to collect data for faster processing times, less rekeying of information and ultimately, lower origination costs.
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)
According to a Forbes study, 55% of senior executives in the mortgage industry think that AI will make their firm, and the industry overall, more competitive. AI and ML can help solve the issues that arise from manual processes across the entire underwriting process by allowing lenders to analyse more data more quickly. This leads to more efficient decisioning, forecasting, and analysis to intelligently automate the underwriting process.
APIs to unlock the mortgage ecosystem
Mortgage technology has historically been siloed and disparate. APIs are offering a better future: the ability to seamlessly connect different actors in the mortgage ecosystem, so lenders can automate manual tasks, ensure efficient communication between systems, and effectively integrate value-add services throughout the customer journey.
Lenders need to make sure their tech is ready for the future, now
The most important thing for lenders is to be agile. They can no longer afford to be hindered by legacy technology that inhibits innovation. By responding quickly and integrating with ease across the entire mortgage value chain, lenders can offer customers the services they need quickly and deliver a truly differentiated home buying experience.
How product partners like nCino and Mambu can help
When selecting technology providers, lenders need to prioritise configurability and scalability, to make changes or launch new products quickly, stay ahead of the future trends and meet customer needs.
When building out your mortgage ecosystem, cloud-based partners like Mambu and nCino help you adopt innovation more quickly. By automating manual processes, boosting operational efficiency, and speeding up decisioning times, all within a single platform that integrates easily with different systems and applications, you can offer your customers a best-in-class experience at every touchpoint in their home-buying journey.
Learn more about nCino’s mortgage solution.
*Data marked with an asterisk in this article came from a 2022 Celent Origination Study which consisted of a survey across 37 lenders in the UK and Ireland, commissioned by nCino, to understand lenders’ biggest challenges with mortgage origination and their approach to mortgage technology investments for the year ahead.