One Mortgage System (OMS) recently hosted its inaugural Tech Talks, an event designed to inform and discuss technology and trends in the mortgage sector with senior industry leaders to get their thoughts on what 2024 will hold.
The firm said that over the past two to three years, the intermediary mortgage market has undergone a transformative shift, wholeheartedly embracing technological advancements of which brokers and lenders have increasingly turned to digital solutions to help streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and improve the overall client experience. With the positive outcomes witnessed in recent years, there are clear signs that this momentum will continue to surge in 2024.
As part of the event, a panel session was held, hosted by Rob Barnard, Intermediary Relationship Director at Pepper Money. The panel consisted of Maria Harris, Chair of the Open Property Data Association (OPDA); Rob Sinclair, Chief Executive at the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI); Emily Hollands, Group Head of Distribution at OneSavings Bank; Greg Cunnington, Chief Operating Officer at LDN Finance and Dale Jannels, Chief Executive Officer at OMS.
The panel session closed by asking each panellist about their tech predictions for 2024 and so the panel answered as follows:
Harris said: “There’s been so much that’s happened to get us to this point. And now we are at the point of adoption, so I think 2024 will be the tipping point. And then we’re going to reach critical mass and it will actually feel like we’re at the point where we’re genuinely going to make a difference. I think 2024 will be a breakthrough but not in a big blockbuster way. It will be a big breakthrough in a tipping point of the adoption of technology.”
Sinclair stated: “Moving is said to be one of the most stressful things that anyone will do in their lifetime, but the stress is a compounding stress because of the knock-on effect of how it affects the family, work etc. The government recognises that the compounding stress is one of the things that’s causing a hit on all parts of society, and therefore taking that away is fundamental and should be driven by our deeper principles other than it’s just a nice thing to do, we need to do this, and tech will enable us to get there.”
Hollands commented: “There’s definitely a pinch point coming and listening to what everybody said, tech is obviously a massively key topic for next year. I think my prediction will be that it will come from a service delivery perspective and not necessarily completely changing the way we do things but offering a better service.”
Cunnington added: “We won’t see a eureka moment. But we’ll see so many marginal gains, things will look unrecognisable in 12 months from a productivity improvement perspective.”
Jannels concluded: “I think that there will be a lot of strides made forward next year. But I think from my point of view, the biggest message I can get out there is, don’t just think about it, get on with it! Stop thinking about it, deal with it and do it because right now we’re in a relatively quiet period, so now is the time to start preparing for 2024 and 2025.
“Tech efficiencies are going to double very, very quickly over the next 12-24 months, so embrace it.”