The system is currently only available to Skipton’s direct customers but is expected to be rolled out to advisers in due time.
Mortgage applicants will have the option of giving consent for Skipton to securely view their bank account information using the Experian Open Banking affordability solution.
The technology shortens the process to a few minutes through a secure link shared with the applicant on email. The service uses Experian’s Trusso, which claims to categorise the transactions on a bank statement in under a second.
Once the information has been shared with Skipton, its staff will be presented with the categorised transaction data in a dashboard which shows the applicant’s income and outgoings. A decision can then be made using this data.
Alex Beavis (pictured), Skipton’s head of mortgages, said the lender was really pleased to be able to introduce this new technology which makes its mortgage application process slicker and quicker.
“Combining our human touch approach with the benefits of new digital technology is the cornerstone of our mortgage strategy and we look forward to announcing more exciting enhancements for our customers in brokers in 2019 and beyond,” he added.
Experian’s Open Data Platform underpinned more than 25 million application programming interface (API) requests each month, and more than 30 per cent of the number made in the UK overall, figures from the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) show.
Lisa Fretwell, managing director of data services at Experian, said: “It’s not just a time-consuming process for people, but lenders, too.
“Open Banking provides them with reliable data which can be analysed at speed to make more informed lending decisions.”
