The Intermediary – November 2025 - Flipbook - Page 37
I N P RO F I L E
impact on the mortgage market, such as “reading
bank statements and payslips and highlighting
areas of concern.”
All of this, ultimately, comes down to smoothing
out the borrower experience. While OMS aims
to do this with a system that does most of the
administrative work, Dale feels that purchasing
a home will always need to be more than just
“ticking a box.” He adds, “you still need an
underwriter to sense check everything.”
There are some expectations, shaped by other
industries, that the process should be faster, but it
is unlikely that people will be comfortable with a
completely non-human experience.
Dale says: “Is a first-time buyer going to get all
of their mortgage advice from an AI agent? No,
they’re probably not. With so much information on
the web and so much fake news, trust is becoming
a huge factor for first-time buyers.”
Collaborating with the competition
October saw OMS host its latest Tech Talk event,
which brought together industry leaders to discuss
how innovation, data and AI are transforming
lending. Dale says: “I think we had 35 lenders in
the room of various sizes, from the high street
to building societies, specialist lenders, bridging
lenders, second charge, and so on. It was a real
way of sharing ideas and collaborating with
regards to where each lender is with AI.”
Dale says this is key to maintaining a healthy
market moving forward, while Neal adds: “We’re
disrupting a market that has been sat there with
two or three providers for 20 years. The nice thing
is we’re not doing it on our own.
“There are other competitors that have launched
over the past couple of years as well. It’s great
to have competition – we share ideas, most
competitors are our friends, not our enemies.”
Urgency and opportunity
While some hesitance in the
market is unfounded, there
are real concerns around
cyber security snd risk. OMS
prides itself on its security
credentials, including
ISO 27001 compliance.
The ability to enact rapid
change does not come at
the cost of well-built
and secure
systems.
In a
NEAL JANNELS
broader sense, the UK itself is slow to change old
systems, which Neal feels means it is “massively
behind the rest of the world,” partly due to the
stringent regulatory system.
He continues: “Brokers, networks and lenders
are all reliant on someone interpreting the
[regulation] correctly and then implementing it in
the day-to-day running of their business.
“But when dealing with brokers, networks, and
lenders, we’ll get three, four, 10 different views on
how Consumer Duty should be established.
“That stifles change, because we’re still trying to
make sure we’re doing everything correctly today,
rather than in two years’ time.”
OMS is not “trying to reinvent the wheel,” Neal
says, but focusing on working with people and
businesses that “have that one area that they’re
good at and attaching it to OMS via APIs.”
Real change will also come with a trusted
data framework and shared ID capabilities. Dale
sits on the executive committee of the Open
Property Data Association and is pleased to see
the movement “finally actually get Government
interest” in order to rationalise the many different
stages of data gathering slowing this market.
In time, it will become a competitive imperative
to adopt better tech and keep on top of these
market movements. Dale says: “For those sitting
around thinking, ‘we will make a change in a year
or so’ – it’s going to be too late.” Rather than
resting on their laurels, he urges businesses to act
now, diversify, and choose long-term partners that
will help them meet challenges down the road.
He says: “Don’t muck around, because the
market is moving so quickly, and even the planning
itself can take a year. There are changes that need
to be made right now, or you are going to get left
behind. Customers, consumers, brokers, lenders,
they’re all demanding different things within
the automation journey – if you’re not on the
bandwagon, you need to jump on.”
For brokers in particular, he recommends
“looking at other business angles, including
specialist, seconds, bridging, commercial,” not
least to take advantage of areas less likely to be
affected by AI, needing a continued human touch.
Dale concludes: “Systems like OMS can help
guide you and give you the tools to get into those
markets pretty quickly.
“Everyone’s being brainwashed about AI and
new tech, so do your homework, speak to existing
clients, look at their financials, look at their
roadmap, have a chat with them about what’s
coming down the road.
“You want to go with a new system for the long
term, that will assist and grow with you and your
business, not just one that might be around for a
couple of years.” ●
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