The Intermediary –- June 2026 - Flipbook - Page 54
I N T E RV I E W
means we are very much at the forefront and
can take advantage of the rapidly changing
technology landscape.”
So, where does this leave those older lenders
that do not have the option of a blank page,
especially in specialist finance, dealing with a
complex set of requirements? Fairhurst and
Mawdesley say the key is to start small.
The bridging and development lending
process has multiple stages, from origination to
terms and valuations, risk, credit committees,
all the way through to drawdown. Several parts
of this process will likely happen at the same
time, while different lenders have different
volumes, funding lines, criteria and staff
structures, often with staff performing multiple
roles. Operational problems might appear at
any stage in this complex process.
“When you get into the detail, the biggest
operational challenge you need to nail is the
numbers,” says Fairhurst. “You can have a great
system, but unless the numbers stack up and
match, it’s going to fall by the wayside or you’re
going to revert to manual processes.”
Fairhurst and Mawdesley urge lenders in
the specialist space, those that cannot make a
lending pit-stop, to focus on one operational
pain point at a time – for example, generating
clean, quick and readable redemption
statements to improve borrower confidence.
Fairhurst adds that, even in an unregulated
space, regulation is getting “tighter, not lighter,”
so the proper use of data and audit trails is
likely to be make or break in the future. This
has been thrown into sharper focus following
recent events that shaken both public and
funder trust in large-scale specialist lenders.
Human benefit, better decisions
Mawdesley is clear that Morpheus, while
built on modern, digital foundations, is “a
human business that leverages technology to
drive value.” He adds: “It’s an amalgamation
of humans with loads of experience in
this and adjacent sectors, with market
leading technology and a really commercial,
transparent view of how we think customers
and brokers should be treated. That’s what a
good lender should look like in this sector.”
Using kennek’s technology, Morpheus can
see exposures by asset type, geography, loan
type, redemption date and overdue status.
This means that when macro-economic shocks
hit – as they have so often in the years since its
launch – the business can respond in minutes,
rather than days.
“There are so many things that could happen
that fundamentally affect our asset exposure,”
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The Intermediary | June 2026
Mawdesley says. “Having the ability to very
quickly go in and see where you’re exposed and
ultimately make a risk-based decision – you
fundamentally protect yourselves better.”
As regulation, the economy, and the wider
global context continue to throw challenges
at all lenders, this may well be the factor that
allows tech-enabled firms to pull ahead.
Whether it is the underwriting of an
individual loan or a top-level business decision
in a crisis, none of this digitalisation and tech
deployment is focused on removing human
beings from decision-making processes. In fact,
for both kennek and Morpheus, the goal is to
facilitate human input where it is needed best.
Fairhurst says: “The speed at which you can
access information informs where you go next.
I talk about it all the time. If two members
of staff go off to produce reports, and at the
end of the month, that’s eight days’ worth of
productivity gone, once you amortise that over
a year, that’s a lot of time and effort back.
“They could have been helping borrowers, or
helping the internal team get deals done.
“How you approach solving that problem
might have to be different because of the
nature of your business. Not everyone can
suddenly become a Morpheus, but working on
the essentials around improving your audit trail
is going to be key to the whole piece, and the
future in the sector.”
On a day-to-day level, for Morpheus this
streamlining means that a broker can submit a
case outside of business hours, and can have it
ready for underwriting before a human arrives
in the morning to look at it, at which point their
expertise comes into play.
Mawdesley says: “What that actually means
is that my guys are freed up to spend more
time picking up with the brokers and the clients
on the structure of deals, making sure that they
know where things are up to.
“You can spend more of your man hours on
value-add human relationships and problem
solving, not on admin. If you run that thread all
the way through the organisation, that’s where
we gain massive efficiencies.”
Fairhurst adds: “I talk about the different
market dynamics or the different staff
structures or skill set structures within a
business. One of the fears when we go into
demos is that we’re going to replace staff.
The way I frame it is that, ultimately, we are
just trying to get your staff focusing on things
which actually drive the business.
“If we can get you this audit trail, if we can
give you the ability to produce this redemption
statement instantaneously, if we can show you
