By Joman Kwong, Strategic Solutions Manager, Financial Services, at Laserfiche

If the mortgage process wasn’t already complex enough, the current state of the UK economy is adding even more fuel to the fire. First-time buyers are likely to spend over one-third of their pay on mortgage payments. And with advanced technologies becoming increasingly accessible and integrated into consumers’ lives, people have little patience for outdated technology and unnecessarily disjointed processes. In fact, 64% of consumers are now more likely to choose fintechs over traditional banks.

Yet, digital transformation in the mortgage industry remains a challenge. Leaders are likelier to stick with tried-and-trusted processes, particularly when sensitive information is at stake. The mortgage industry is also an archaic one, with loans first offered in the UK around the 12^th century.  But now, 21^st century technology is set to bring this historic industry into the present, making legacy processes and tenuous paperwork a thing of the past.

By utilising the vast array of digital tools on offer, mortgage providers can refresh their systems and processes to provide a better, more streamlined customer experience. Lenders can expedite mortgage processes when every decision is backed by precise data collection and analysis, and systems are in place to organise, access and manage customer information.

Utilising AI to free up time for human employees

Many financial institutions have already started to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their systems and processes to great effect. AI makes it easier than ever before to streamline capturing and classifying data to make content searchable from one centralised, organised place. Employees no longer need to trawl through documents manually but can rely on AI to source documents by using keywords, metadata, annotations, file names and more.

Employees take back valuable time when they are no longer bogged down with manual tasks; for example, filling out and filing documents can now be automated. The result is more time,      headspace, and energy to provide personalised customer service. Tools such as AI-powered chatbots are also becoming increasingly popular as an in-app banking feature, providing customers with 360 support anytime, anywhere. Chatbots can also facilitate more personalised, guided experiences when customers are reviewing forms or searching through websites, ensuring that they feel supported every step of the way.

The role of hyperautomation in breaking down siloes

Many mortgage lenders and financial institutions have already invested in automation but currently utilise single-point solutions that are earmarked for specific tasks. The result can be disjointed end processes, resulting in slower services for end users. Hyperautomation, therefore, can play a fundamental role in improving the total experience within financial institutions. End-to-end solutions make it easy to automate manual tasks and expedite data entry and approval routing. Leaders are no longer hampered by siloed data and unstructured data sets, which can lead to issues such as multiple versions of pieces of digital content with no ability to track them.

Hyperautomation reduces the likelihood of important documentation – such as sales contracts and datasheets – getting lost in the ‘digital noise’. It brings together business processes across different applications and departments to ensure better useability for employees and customers alike.

In the mortgage sector, hyperautomation tools can also make it possible to fill the gaps between mortgage origination and other business applications, expediting underwriting and mortgage review workflows. For example, by deploying a process orchestration engine, a mortgage lender could provide an accessible interface where customers or brokers could easily submit a mortgage application with all the supporting documents. After the first round of interviews, the provider could then route data into the core banking software and loan origination system for processing, eliminating any duplicate or manual data entries. Feeding data directly to the core banking software in this way also provides employees quick and easy access to customers’ personal information, all via one single interface. Hyperautomation will drive improved visibility across every process, speeding up operations and driving better CX as a result.

Streamlined customer experiences stem from connected processes

When customers are looking to obtain a mortgage, they are still faced with many time-consuming manual tasks such as document collection and income verification. Customers understandably become frustrated with disjointed verification processes, where they are asked to input the same security information multiple times. Fragmented processes occur due to a lack of data integration.      Organisations can avoid the risks associated with data being stored in multiple places when every system and process is connected. Connecting every system and process also encourages customer loyalty and satisfaction because applications work efficiently, intuitively and with the click of a button.

So, what does this look like in practice? Mortgage providers can create a ‘single source of truth’ by bringing together loan origination systems with core banking software, so that mortgage specialists can access real-time information without needing to jump between applications. From augmenting credit checks to speeding up underwriting procedures to streamlined review and approval processes, the opportunities for transformation are endless.

Looking towards the future of the mortgage sector

We’ve seen how AI-empowered tools can help customer service representatives quickly retrieve a document or copy of a signature directly from a cloud-based system. As operations within the sector digitally transform, the benefits will be felt by all stakeholders, from employees to customers to shareholders. Process automation tools are already helping innovative financial institutions enhance the customer experience as they integrate unparalleled levels of connectivity into their offerings.

A process as complex as securing a mortgage will never be hurdle-free, but introducing digital tools will help make the journey towards attaining a mortgage significantly smoother. And it’s not just customers that will benefit. A well-equipped workforce that has easy access to systems that organise and manage data can provide a more efficient service, boosting both productivity and customer satisfaction. The time to invest in tools that will help supercharge how you provide your financial offerings is now. The business benefits will be felt for years to come.

Philip Sheen, Head of Public Sector UKI at UiPath

By its nature, the digital transformation of the public sector has been gradual and guarded. Public sector organisations and governments have limited budgets, lean teams, and a responsibility to act in the interest of the citizens who use supplied services. This context means that the implementation of innovative technologies and ultimately transformation has been conservative by comparison to some other industries.

We are starting to see this approach shift. As more organisations implement and benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) powered solutions, public sector bodies are now considering how and where they can best use AI, with AI-enabled automation now very much part of their future.

As the UK public sector looks to AI and automation to improve the way it works and the services it provides to its citizens. With careful change management it is possible to tackle doubts and allow public sector organisations to realise the power of technology, with people at the centre.

Automation for civil servants

A core challenge for the UK civil service is how it can make efficiencies in customer engagement and cost saving while still enhancing outcomes for citizens. Doing so is a tricky balance, but AI-enabled automation provides a solution.

AI powered automation can help improve the efficiency of government services and free up civil servants’ time to focus on valuable, non-repetitive, tasks. However, many aren’t implementing it, citing reasons such as lean teams, complicated processes and disparate, legacy technology as blockers. It can seem that the adoption of automation feels a long way off.

By removing human and system latency, working across tech platforms and ecosystems to bypass constraints, and orchestrating and providing experiences which better blend together for the end user, the modernisation of the civil service is in reach through automation.

This is especially important in the sector given it often deals with and provides services for some of the most vulnerable in society. Vulnerable citizens need specialised support, whether that’s through faster loan approvals, special assistance with applications or providing accessible services. Not only can automation help make these services a reality, but also free up worker time so they have more time to think about and create more accessible options for those who need them.

Automation for healthcare

Patient waiting lists and waiting times in the UK have soared since COVID. The volume of people on the list for elective treatment has tripled since 2013. Patients are being failed and change needs to happen – AI-enabled automation can help.

The administrative burden in healthcare is high. By driving uniformity across core processes, making the back and middle office more effective – replacing manual processes and tasks and improving workflows – and reducing the resources allocated to these activities, automation can make administrative and support tasks quicker, error free and less costly. The overall impact of this is improved wait times and even better speed and precision in diagnoses.

Automation is a proven pathway to better patience care and experience within the healthcare sector.

Automation in policing

Smaller budgets and targets to keep the police workforce lean has left the industry looking to improve officer and system efficiency. Automation has the ability to help change this, empowering officers with the enhanced skills needed to deliver the best services for the citizens who need them, while focusing on a core part of their job – keeping citizens safe.

This technology can be used in numerous ways, including uploading witness statements to Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) on the go so officers can move from one incident to the next more easily; ensuring paperwork is filled out correctly the first time to avoid mistakes in cases and documents being rejected; and even the automatic redaction of sensitive data in relations to Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

Automation can also support officers when it comes to threat harm risk assessments. By working across constabularies and local authorities, automation can highlight vulnerable individuals, allowing officers to spot and evaluate patterns and react to their situation appropriately.

Looking to an impactful future

Use of AI and automation in public services all comes back to the impact it has on people, whether that is across safety, health or social care. When embedded into organisations and leveraged in the correct way the benefits can be experienced for both citizens and civil servants, but the urgency for change is now.

Source: Finance Derivative

Tetyana Golovata, Head of Regulatory Compliance at IFX Payments

Regulation plays a critical role in shaping the fintech landscape. From Consumer Duty and FCA annual risk reporting to APP fraud, the tectonic plates of the sector are shifting and whether you consider these regulations as benefiting or hindering the industry, businesses are struggling to keep up. 

According to research by fraud prevention fintech Alloy, 93% of respondents said they found it challenging to meet compliance requirements, while in a new study by Davies a third of financial leaders (36%) said their firms had been penalised for compliance breaches in the year to June. With the FCA bringing in its operational resilience rules next March, it is more important than ever to ensure your company makes the grade on compliance. 

Lessons from history

Traditionally, FX has struggled with the challenge of reporting in an ever-developing sector. As regulatory bodies catch up and raise the bar on compliance, responsible providers must help the industry navigate the changes and upcoming deadlines.

Fintechs and payments companies are entering uncharted waters – facing pressure to beat rivals by offering more innovative products. When regulators have struggled to keep up in the past, gaps in legislation haveallowed some opportunists to slip between the net, as seen in the collapse of FTX. Because of this, implementation and standardisation of the rules is necessary to ensure that innovation remains seen as a force for good, and to help identify and stamp out illegal activity.

Culture vs business

Culture has become a prominent factor in regulatory news, with cases of large fines and public censure relating to cultural issues. As the FCA’s COO Emily Shepperd, shrewdly observed in a speech to the finance industry, “Culture is what you do when no one is looking”.

Top-level commitment is crucial when it comes to organisational culture. Conduct and culture are closely intertwined, and culture is not merely a tick-box exercise. It is not defined by perks like snack bars or Friday pizzas; rather, it should be demonstrated in every aspect of the organisation, including processes, people, counterparties, and third parties.

In recent years, regulatory focus has shifted from ethics to culture, recognising its crucial role in building market reputation, ensuring compliance with rules and regulations, boosting client confidence, and retaining employees. The evolving regulatory landscape has significantly impacted e-money and payments firms, with regulations strengthening each year. Each regulation carries elements of culture, as seen in:

• Consumer duty: How do we treat our customers?
• Operational resilience: How can we recover and prevent disruptions to our customers?
• APP fraud: How do we protect our customers?

Key drivers of culture include implementing policies on remuneration, conflicts of interest, and whistleblowing, but for it to become embedded it must touch employees at every level.

This is showcased by senior stakeholders and heads of departments facilitating close relationships with colleagues across a company’s Sales, Operations, Tech and Product teams to build a collaborative environment. 

Finance firms must recognise the trust bestowed on them by their customers and ensure the protection of their investments and data is paramount. Consumer Duty may have been a wake-up call for some companies, but progressive regulation must always be embraced and their requirements seen as a baseline rather than a hurdle.

Similarly, the strengthening of operational resilience rules and the upcoming APP fraud regulation in October are to be welcomed, increasing transparency for customers. 

Compliance vs business 

Following regulatory laws is often viewed as a financial and resource drain, but without proper compliance, companies are vulnerable to situations where vast amounts of money can be lost quickly.

A case in point is the proposed reimbursal requirement for APP fraud, which will mean payment firms could face having to pay compensation of up to £415,000 per case.

Complying not only safeguards the client and their money, but also the business itself. About nine in ten (88%) financial services firms have reported an increased compliance cost over the past five years, according to research from SteelEye.  Embedding compliance earlier in business cultures can be beneficial in the long run, cutting the time and money needed to adapt to new regulations and preventing the stress of having to make wholesale changes rapidly. 

Building a cross-business compliance culture 

Compliance is a key principle at IFX, and we strive to be a champion in this area. In response to these challenges, the business restructured, establishing dedicated risk and regulatory departments, along with an internal audit function. 

Regulatory compliance aims to support innovation by developing and using new tools, standards, and approaches to foster innovation and ensure product safety, efficacy, and quality. It has helped the firm to navigate the regulatory landscape while driving growth and maintaining high standards.

This organisational shift allowed each business line to own its own risk, with department partaking in tailored workshops designed to identify existing, new, and potential risk exposure. Shared responsibility for compliance is the only way to create a culture which values it. We see this as a great way for organisations to drive innovation while sticking to the rules.