The Intermediary –- June 2026 - Flipbook - Page 50
T E C H N O L O GY
Opinion
Mortgage
technology must
solve real problems
T
he market has moved
past asking whether
technology belongs in
the application process.
The more useful
question is whether it
is solving the problems brokers and
borrowers face every day.
The next wave of improvement
cannot be about speed alone. A faster
process is useful, but it only creates
real value when it helps brokers place
cases with more confidence and gives
borrowers a fairer, more rounded
assessment of their circumstances.
Our latest broker research backs
this up. The proportion of brokers
who want tech to play a bigger role in
streamlining the mortgage application
process has risen from 74% to 89% in
six months, and 90% say lenders are
already using technology effectively.
The areas where brokers most want
to see improvement tell their own
story. Beer handling of non-standard
cases (33%), clearer tracking of case
progress (33%), stronger integration
between broker and lender systems
(32%), and faster decision in principle
outcomes (32%).
A borrower with a straightforward
salary and simple credit profile
may move through without much
difficulty, but the market is full of
people whose financial lives need more
careful aention: multiple income
streams, expenditure that needs
interpretation, circumstances that do
not fit a rigid process.
The goal should be a smarter
journey that can tell the difference
between genuine risk and a case that
simply needs more context.
Administration matters
Reducing manual document
submission (32%) and delivering more
consistent underwriting decisions
48
The Intermediary | June 2026
(31%) are among the changes brokers
say would make the biggest difference.
When brokers have to submit the
same information repeatedly or chase
updates, time is lost and confidence
starts to fall away.
This is where technology can
earn its place: reducing duplication,
making information easier to
interpret, giving brokers beer
visibility, and helping lenders ask
for extra information only when
needed. But it must be built around
the reality of lending, with a human
still making the call.That test maers
even more when we talk about AI.
Confidence is growing, with a third
of brokers now open to greater use
of AI or automation in document
verification and administration,
initial affordability assessments and
broker-lender communications.
Brokers also see potential for AI to
support the wider market: regulatory
and compliance checks (22%),
helping borrowers with multiple
income streams (21%), and improving
the interpretation of income and
expenditure (20%).
Brokers are open to AI helping with
the work that surrounds judgement,
supports it or makes it easier to apply
consistently, but not replacing their
role at the heart of the journey. For us,
brokers remain central to the process,
and technology should strengthen that
role rather than dilute it.
That maers, because the future
role of AI in mortgages will depend
not just on how much of it the
industry adopts, but what kind of
solutions it chooses to build.
Generic tools such as ChatGPT or
Copilot may have a role in supporting
everyday tasks, but the bigger
opportunity is likely to come from
purpose-built solutions designed
around the realities of lending.
AARON SHINWELL
is chief lending officer at
Nottingham Building Society
These tools can be beer aligned
to the needs of brokers, borrowers
and underwriters, while reducing
reliance on opaque third-parties or
broad generative models that can feel
like a black box. In a market where
accountability and explainability
maer, that distinction will become
increasingly important.
That thinking sits behind our
new IDI broker platform, developed
with MQube, which is intended to
reduce friction in underwriting while
keeping complex cases visible.
Not unconditional
Mortgage decisions carry real
consequences. If AI is going to play a
bigger role, people need to understand
where it is used, what it is influencing,
and where human oversight sits.
There is a clear difference between
AI that removes avoidable admin and
AI that becomes a black box in the
middle of a life-changing financial
decision. One can build confidence.
The other can damage it.
Transparency maers. A third of
brokers (33%) believe clearer rules
around the use of AI in the mortgage
process would be one of the changes
most likely to support the UK
mortgage market.
The message from brokers is clear:
smarter systems, less administration,
clearer updates, beer integration,
quicker answers, and proper human
oversight where it counts. Get that
balance right, and technology can
make mortgages faster, fairer and
more fit for modern life. ●
