Looking at the mortgage sector specifically, there are many other trends or areas that also deserve our focus and so I have attempted to list below my thoughts on what we will see in 2024.
A wider use of apps
2023 could be termed the year of the product transfer (PT) and as such, the challenge for brokers was and is to retain customers by doing the PT for them, rather than the customers going direct to the lender. Many lenders make this even easier for customers by allowing them to do a PT via their banking app.
I see a correlation to some research we did recently regarding savers which revealed a shift in the criteria influencing the choices of British consumers when it comes to choosing a new bank account. The research highlighted that interest rates are no longer the sole determinants in decision-making, as a robust 79 per cent of respondents now emphasise the critical role of having a mobile app when selecting a banking provider.
Contrary to conventional expectations, this demand for mobile apps is not solely driven by the youngest demographic. Some 92 per cent of respondents aged 25-34 agreed with this sentiment followed by 91 per cent aged 35-44 years old. 18-24 year olds and 45-54 year olds both polled 86 per cent.
I foresee more and more lenders providing their borrowers with more online solutions to do a PT and this will include using apps. Therefore, I see brokers (initially the larger firms admittedly) also seeking to follow suit to allow their customers to view their products and subsequently interact with the broker.
This may be made possible by the CRM system they use.
Intuitive CRM systems
With Consumer Duty and the ongoing demands of regulation, plus the added pressure and need to retain as many customers as possible, 2024 must surely be the year when brokers finally widely adopt the use of CRM systems and ditch the spreadsheets for ever.
Technology firms have also recognised this and there are more systems available than ever before to suit most types of brokers from one-man bands to multi-office/adviser groups. Because of the choice now available, the need for brokers to develop their own system due to their ‘unique needs’ is unlikely, especially due to the prohibitive cost in developing and then maintaining such systems.
Many systems also provide customer portals (or the ability to easily plug your own in) and I see these adapting and developing to allow customers to interact more with their broker and so creating more regular and valuable interactions between customer and brokers, so aiding retention.
Lender origination and servicing platforms
If 2023 is anything to go by and judging by initial predictions from bodies like UK Finance it will be, 2024 will not see a growth in lending volumes. Some lenders have already seen this as an opportunity to make decisions on what they and their customers will need going forward and choose the technology partners to deliver them.
One example of this is OneSavings Bank who partnered with nCino Inc. in November to provide them with a cloud-based single platform that will help streamline traditional banking processes such as underwriting and loan origination.
Another example is One Mortgage System (OMS) being chosen by Market Financial Solutions (MFS) to be its primary origination platform partner. MFS said in January 2023 that this partnership will enable effective landlord and broker interaction as well as providing an efficient and agile platform to deliver a variety of lending facilities to their brokers and landlords quickly and effectively.
2024 will only see more and more lenders changing platforms and I predict many of these will be in the building society sector, as they seek to further differentiate themselves and provide more value and accessibility to their members.
The role of AI
I couldn’t do a blog on 2024 tech trends without talking about AI. However, I’m not sure I can add much to what has been said by others over the last year apart from saying that the use of AI to improve and speed up decisioning, plus its use to do more ‘heavy lifting’ to allow humans to interpret and help more and more customers will continue apace.
Along with the above, the work that Maria Harris and the Open Property Data Association are championing to improve how the industry handles, uses, and shares data for the benefit of not only the industry but consumers should be applauded. Will 2024 see massive changes from this perspective? It’s unlikely, but great strides will be made as this gathers momentum.
So, will 2024 be a tipping point?
Possibly, but more likely it will contribute to the gradual forward steps by our industry to further use tech to help our customers, whether they are brokers or consumers.
