Bhupender Singh, CEO of Intelenet Global Services® predicts a turning point in the mortgages industry

The Finovate conference, described as the ‘Super Bowl’ of online personal finance, is bringing together an international cohort of FinTech innovators. Firms will showcase their work in live demonstrations of the latest technologies which are shaking up the sector. A wide range of financial areas will be covered at the event such as peer-to-peer lending, payments, mortgages and how technology is being leveraged to boost efficiencies and streamline the customer experience.

The mortgages sector in particular has seen a great wave of change in recent years as automated technology handles more and more mortgage processes from approvals to underwriting. Lengthy waiting periods for approvals tend to be a cause for complaint from consumers, but new technology is being introduced to reduce these delays. Recently it has been demonstrated that this period can be reduced from 11 days to approximately 48 hours.

The modern customer still expects traditional banking services in-person, with 86 percent of customers in a recent survey expressing they will use a physical branch in the near future. However a range of digital services are being leveraged to blend the customer journey and create a hybrid experience where human interaction is assisted, instead of being phased out by automation.  New innovators are increasingly putting pressure on traditional financial institutions, as mortgage lending from non-banks has doubled since 2007.

Bhupender Singh, CEO of Intelenet Global Services®, commented: “Mortgage providers find themselves in a highly competitive market as smaller players seek to disrupt and undercut traditional banks. New technology in the form of automated approval and processing systems, can streamline mortgage transactions resulting in a win-win for companies and customers.

He continues: “Analytic technology that can intelligently examine speech and customer behaviour is revolutionising the sector. We are going to see smaller providers bring new software and algorithms to free up precious resources within banks, and this will allow them to provide better care for their customers. The rise of automation in the mortgage sector is an opportunity for banks to get closer to their clients and give them a more personalised service.”