The Intermediary – December 2025 - Flipbook - Page 69
T E C H N O L O GY
Opinion
Change is outpacing
legacy systems
W
hen so many
regulatory
initiatives
require system
changes, is the
pace of change
now too quick for lenders running
legacy platforms?
Lenders have a huge amount of
regulation and compliance to deal
with today, and there continues to be
more and more. Some of it is flagged
early enough to allow for lenders with
older systems to adapt them – more of
it is not.
Currently, lenders are contending
with the Consumer Duty rules, trying
to understand what vulnerability
looks like without over or undersimplifying it, and dealing with
how to make the most of relaxed
loan-to-income (LTI) rules from the
Prudential Regulation Authority
(PRA). The Mortgage Rule Review
is down the line, new Energy
Performance Certificate (EPC)
standards are coming, and all the rest.
To maintain competitiveness,
lenders must be able to manage these
challenges quickly and efficiently. The
consequences of failing to do that can
be devastating for business volumes.
The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders
Association (IMLA) estimates that the
share of mortgage business conducted
through intermediaries will continue
its upward trajectory, rising from
87% in 2024 to 89% in 2025 and
91% in 2026.
When brokers want ease more
than speed, what does ease look
like? Appropriate products, priced
competitively and coming to market
at the time they’re needed – not nine
months later.
Case submission is also something
that is still proving too hard for a
lot of lenders, and brokers hate it.
Ultimately, they vote with their feet.
Increasingly, this is now happening,
driven by the fact that a rising number
of lenders have recognised just how
important and time-sensitive it has
become to be able to deliver a slick
and flexible service interaction for
brokers. Enhancing digital channels,
offering beer client relationship
management systems, cuing
processing times, improving the
broker experience and adding agility
to provide for changing needs – these
are the challenges at the forefront of
most mortgage lenders’ minds.
This should be the biggest driver
for the investment case to move to
new tech systems. The more lenders
do, the worse it will get for those that
don’t. Investing in a wholesale change
from legacy platforms to a brand new
system is a big decision for lenders.
There is a business case to be made
to justify the cost, and the decision
will always involve weighing up
alternative options. Patching existing
systems might seem easier, less risky
or even cheaper. But I’d argue the
opposite. A fully thought-through
business case to invest in cloud-based
tech should come down to more than
cost. It should be about how cost
effective that investment is long-term.
Repricing and managing product
refreshes, or launching new ones, is
an obvious space where lenders can
improve efficiency and therefore
the ease for brokers interacting
with them.
Another is how easy it is for lenders
themselves to use the data they
have siing in their systems doing
nothing. Especially when it comes to
compliance with vulnerability rules
under the Consumer Duty. Identifying
key flags, monitoring them, risk
assessing borrowers – these tasks need
flexible platforms that can access the
right data in enough granularity to
allow for a meaningful response.
According to UK Finance, research
shows that 89% of customers find
the mortgage application as stressful
as buying the home itself. Disparate
legacy systems create an inconsistent
journey that begins with digital
JERRY MULLE
is UK managing director
at Ohpen
Lenders must be able
to manage [challenges]
quickly and efficiently.
The consequences of
failing to do that can be
devastating for business”
promise, but oen reverts to
manual procedures, with 40% of the
mortgage journey requiring human
intervention.
The delays and frustrations that
result are damaging for lenders –
not only on profitability but also
reputationally. Customers are baffled
that it still takes up to six months
to get a purchase to completion.
Remortgaging is not up to scratch for
a lot of lenders, either, with average
processing times now around 45 days,
based on UK Finance figures.
With so much regulatory scrutiny,
lenders must be rigorous about
document verification, underwriting
affordability and checking customers’
risk profiles. Doing that in a consistent
manner, reducing the margin for
error and the cost, requires major
change. Lenders need agile, robust
cloud-based SaaS Solutions that
allow scaleability in cost effective
way. It’s increasingly the only route
to growth. ●
December 2025 | The Intermediary
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