The Intermediary –- June 2026 - Flipbook - Page 56
T E C H N O L O GY
Opinion
Data is no longer
the issue
F
or years, transformation
discussions in the UK
mortgage market have
focused primarily on
digitisation. Removing
paper, improving
front-end journeys and reducing
manual processing. Yet the market
is now moving beyond surface-level
modernisation towards something
far more structural. The real
challenge for lenders is no longer
whether data exists. It is whether
their infrastructure is capable of
operationally optimising it.
Across the mortgage market,
lenders now have access to
unprecedented levels of property
intelligence. Automated valuation
models (AVMs), Energy Performance
Certificate (EPC) data, geospatial
analytics, climate exposure,
affordability indicators, transaction
histories and behavioural insight can
all now be connected in increasingly
sophisticated ways.
The opportunity created is
substantial, but only if institutions
possess the infrastructure capable of
taking in, orchestrating and deploying
that intelligence in real time.
Historically, much of the UK
mortgage market evolved around
fragmented operational systems
and platforms. Valuation systems
sat separately from underwriting
platforms. Property data moved
sequentially between providers
and departments. Intermediary
systems, servicing environments and
operational workflows developed
independently over decades, oen
creating disconnected architectures
which limited agility and innovation.
That model delivered resilience at
a particular moment, but it was not
designed for a world where data itself
becomes commercially actionable.
The market is now entering a new
phase of transformation.
We are increasingly seeing banks,
specialist lenders and building
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The Intermediary | June 2026
societies embed richer forms of
property intelligence directly into
decisioning environments as part of
broader operational redesigns.
The integration of automated
valuation capability alongside EPC
and energy performance data into
lender workflows reflects a much
wider recognition that future
competitiveness will depend on the
intelligent orchestration of data.
Changing objectives
Recent developments within
the mutual sector illustrate this
shi clearly. Yorkshire Building
Society’s adoption of our Lender
Hub to integrate AVM capability
alongside energy performance
data demonstrates how lenders are
evolving beyond isolated valuation
workflows towards far more
connected intelligence environments.
The objective is not simply faster
valuations, although speed remains
important. It is about enabling more
informed lending decisions around
affordability, sustainability, condition
and long-term portfolio resilience.
This reflects a broader strategic
evolution across the market. The
emergence of sophisticated property
data lakes means lenders can
now combine multiple forms of
intelligence simultaneously.
AVM outputs can sit alongside
climate analytics, retrofit modelling,
EPC insight, planning data,
environmental risk indicators
and transactional histories to
create far more dynamic forms of
credit assessment and portfolio
management. However, data lakes
themselves do not create competitive
advantage if the infrastructure cannot
support the goal.
Many legacy environments
within financial services were built
around operational throughput
rather than real-time intelligence.
Historical architecture oen requires
complex workarounds, duplicated
MARK BLACKWELL
is chief operating officer
at Cotality
integrations and significant
operational friction. In many cases,
the underlying infrastructure itself is
the limiting factor preventing lenders
from capitalising on the full value of
modern data ecosystems.
Affordability pressures, refinancing
risk, climate considerations and
sustainability regulation are all
increasing the need for more adaptive
and intelligent decision-making
frameworks. EPC data alone, for
example, is no longer simply a
compliance exercise. It is increasingly
relevant to valuation confidence,
portfolio risk assessment and longterm asset performance.
Cotality’s analysis has highlighted
how static EPC information may
create material back-book risk where
lenders lack dynamic visibility into
evolving property conditions and
energy performance exposure.
The implication is clear. Static
infrastructures designed around
historical operating models are
less effective in a market shaped
by interconnected, real-time data.
Transformation is no longer simply an
IT discussion, but a strategic business
discussion about how lenders position
themselves for the next decade.
The future will be shaped not solely
by product innovation or operational
scale, but by the ability to connect
intelligence across the mortgage
lifecycle. This means creating
infrastructures capable of supporting
dynamic decisioning environments
where valuation, sustainability,
affordability and portfolio analytics
operate seamlessly together.
Tech enables that transformation,
but infrastructure will determine
which institutions unlock the
enormous value emerging from
modern property data ecosystems. ●
