"What we need in order to achieve an expedited mortgage process of this nature is industry-wide alignment and consistency."
FR: Has the Covid-induced uptake of mortgage tech tools had a lasting impact or have brokers reverted to old habits?
The pandemic undoubtedly had a lasting impact on the uptake and usage of mortgage tech tools. The crisis forced lenders, brokers, and consumers to open their eyes to the benefits of a digital-led homebuying journey, and they haven’t looked back since. The digitisation of the industry has encapsulated customer communication, ID verification, and more recently, even home surveys.
Nevertheless, there is still work to be done, and indeed our work will never truly be ‘done’. There are still instances of professionals opting for long-winded, paper-based processes and this needs to change. This is why Smartr365 was born, and why I’m so passionate to be part of a wider change that could benefit many thousands of advisers and indeed millions of mortgage customers from there.
FR: What is the key factor preventing a more widespread adoption of tech in the mortgage sector?
Raising awareness of all the tools at the industry’s disposal remains a priority. For example, many within the industry are still unaware of the benefits of Open Banking and digital ID verification. The onus is on providers to spread the good word and ensuring the right people have access to the right tools.
FR: What is your long-term vision for Smartr365?
My priority for Smartr365 is building on the brilliant rapid growth we have achieved. We welcomed our 2,000th user in July 2021, and we have more than doubled our user base since. We’re also already connected with over half of UK mortgage lenders, including household names such as Nationwide and Halifax, but the sky is the limit here and we are excited about the upcoming announcements we will be making in this space very soon.
FR: What is the biggest benefit of a fully digital homebuying journey?
I think that one of the most common frustrations in the mortgage sector is unnecessarily long approval processes and repetitions within the process. If the mortgage market wants to keep up with client expectations in a post-lockdown, tech-savvy era, then speeding up the homebuying and refinancing journey is a non-negotiable. Key to this is powerful and efficient sourcing tools, and back-end mechanisms that cut time on processes like rekeying. Time savings are invaluable in any industry, but particularly one as fast-paced as ours.
FR: Could we ever see a ‘ten-minute mortgage’?
The illusive ‘ten-minute mortgage’ could well become a reality as innovation continues to thrive in our digital, connected world. Digital ID, integrated credit checks, open banking for affordability, connectivity with banks and more are accelerating us towards a faster and more efficient mortgage process. What we need in order to achieve an expedited mortgage process of this nature is industry-wide alignment and consistency. We have made so much progress in the last three years alone – we are certainly on the right path, we just need to keep going.
FR: Do you have any words of advice for anyone looking to start a career in fintech?
It’s become somewhat of a cliché but think outside the box and don’t be afraid to challenge legacy ideas and processes. So many current innovations were unthinkable even ten years ago, so imagine what could come next.
FR: What are you most proud of in your career?
Over the past twenty or so years, I’ve had the pleasure of working at some great companies with incredible people. Whilst it’s difficult to pin-point just one thing, I’d say I’m very proud of my current role, heading up the UK’s leading end-to-end mortgage platform. We are relied upon by thousands of users and partners, who are themselves relied upon my thousands of customers, so to be able to add value for this amount of people is a source of huge honour.
