All encompassing technology for the financial intermediary is becoming a reality as Mortgage Brain, The Exchange and Sesame start to integrate their offerings for the mortgage, life, and pensions markets.
Mortgage Brain users will be able to access quotes and process life and pensions business through The Exchange’s Exweb portal. In return, The Exchange will use Mortgage Brain’s sourcing and trading platform to drive its Mortgage Centre on Exweb.
The main benefit for users will be that a single set of client data can be used across both systems.
Mark Lofthouse, chief executive of Mortgage Brain, said: “Combining the respective products offers mortgage intermediaries and IFAs maximum business benefit so that they can provide the best service possible to their clients.” Lofthouse added that Exweb and Mortgage Brain already share many of the same customers in organisations such as Charcol, Zurich Advice Network, Tenet and Inter Alliance.
Mortgage Brain has also been working with Sesame over the development of mortgage sourcing technology and the pre-population of information through to Assureweb, the trading platform for protection products. They are now in talks to develop a further link into conveyancing firm 121 Legals which will enable members to go one step further and instruct a solicitor on behalf of a client online. However, this facility will not be completed by the time Sesame Mortgage Services launches in October.
Andy Young, head of mortgage services at Sesame, said: “Eventually, this will help advisers achieve multiple sales. At the moment when an adviser is in a client’s home it is difficult to make multiple sales as the adviser has to fill in all the client’s details over and over for different products. Technology will shorten the sales process dramatically.”
David Bitner, head of product operation at The Marketplace said: ” A single trading platform for the financial services market has to be the solution, being better for the product providers, and intermediaries as well as offering a better customer experience.” Previously Bitner said intermediaries were plagued by a rash of systems that did an excellent job but on an independent level, and meant much information had to be re-keyed.
