Mortgage Strategy Technology Service Awards

The 2008 Benchmark Study on Lender Intermediary Technology and the new Mortgage Intermediary Technology Study have been published today by Frank Eve Consulting Limited. These two Studies provide an insight into e-commerce in the mortgage market and give a guide to Best Practice for the entire industry. As a result of this research Mortgage Strategy has announced its Technology Service Awards.

The 2008 Benchmark Study on Lender Intermediary Technology

The 2008 Benchmark Study reports the findings of the seventh annual survey of UK mortgage lender intermediary technology and customer support. Its primary objectives are to help the lending industry:

• Validate – and perhaps migrate, reposition or upgrade –processing systems
• Priorities information technology (IT) spend for functionality and enhancements
• Assist with overall e-commerce strategy
• Review competitive positioning

This Study benchmarks the intermediary technology of 23 mortgage lenders and has this year been extended to include a review of 6 lender technology provider systems. This gives a unique assessment of best practice in lender distribution technology. The individual questionnaires for both lenders and system providers were completed independently in August and September 2008. The scoring methodology for the lender questionnaire was verified by representatives of the mortgage intermediary market at an Intermediary Technology Forum earlier this year which reviewed the questionnaire, weighting system and allocation of points. Intermediary participants were asked to consider each question in terms of relevancy and importance. The Forum focused on three key areas of lender technology:

• The functionality required by intermediaries and their experience of using lenders’ technology
• How lenders could improve their online services/technological offerings
• How this year’s questionnaire might be structured and scored to reflect these concerns.

The lender study examines lender websites and core systems functionality in relation to intermediary business transaction capability, customer service and sales support. Four categories of criteria were used:

• Log-on and overall site design
• Website analytical content
• Loan application, submission and processing
• Information technology platform

To define best practice - and determine whether it is a basic requirement or will provide the lender with a competitive advantage - website functionality was sorted into one of three categories:

• Basic threshold requirement’
• Current best practice
• Emerging best practice’.

As a result of this research Mortgage Strategy has given its prestigious Gold Award to 16 of the 23 lenders taking part in the Study:-

• Halifax
• GMAC-RFC
• The Mortgage Works
• Woolwich
• Paragon
• BM Solutions
• Accord Mortgages
• Money Partners
• GE Home Lending
• Bank of Scotland
• Edeus
• Kensington
• Abbey
• Mortgage Express
• Platform
• Nationwide

Since the research was undertaken a number of lenders have withdrawn from the market. Best Practice Systems Providers The following system providers have also been awarded Best Practice Awards in the Lender systems provider category:-

• BancTec e-First Origin
• DPR
• N4 MSO
• Target
• Unisys
• Vertex Omiga

The 2008 Mortgage Intermediary Technology Study

The 2008 Intermediary Technology Study reports the findings of the first annual survey of UK mortgage intermediary technology and customer support. Its primary objectives are to help mortgage intermediaries: Validate – and perhaps migrate, reposition or upgrade –processing systems Prioritise information technology (IT) spending for functionality and enhancements Establish an overall e-commerce strategy This Study reports on the intermediary technology provided by 16 intermediary system suppliers. This gives a unique assessment of best practice in mortgage intermediary distribution technology in the following categories, Sourcing Systems, Point of Sale Systems and Sales & Processing Systems

Frank Eve, Managing Director of Frank Eve Consulting Limited said “This is the first year we have developed a Study on Mortgage Intermediary Technology. Direct comparison is difficult as the intermediary market is highly fragmented and intermediaries have different requirements depending on size, business model, business volume and market. A large intermediary selling specialist mortgages via a network has completely different requirements to a small directly authorized broker. Therefore we thought it inappropriate to use any type of rating system. Instead, the study identifies best practice in the areas of sourcing, point-of-sale and sales & processing systems.”

Frank Eve Consulting Limited designed questionnaires for each of the categories and these were completed independently by the systems suppliers in August and September 2008. The study examines, for each category, system functionality in relation to intermediary business transaction capability, customer service and support. For each category, six criteria sets were used:

• Platform & Architecture
• Platform Functionality
• Mortgage Functionality
• Compliance Support
• Integration Support
• Information Technology Platform

As a result of this detailed research Mortgage Strategy have given the following Systems Providers a ‘Best Practice’ Award in the following categories

‘Best Practice’ Sourcing Systems

• DPR – Mortgage Bench
• Edge
• Home Buyer System
• Mortgage Brain
• Promise Solutions
• Trigold – Prospector

‘Best Practice’ Point of Sale Systems

• MBL – The Key
• Focus – 360
• N4 MSO
• Mortgage Stream
• BancTec – eFirst Origin
• Crystal – Momentum
• 1st Software – Adviser Evolution
• Edge

‘Best Practice’ Sales & Application Processing

• Target – Bluechip
• White Clarke Group – CALMS
• DPR – Back Office
• BancTec – eFirst Origin
• Mortgage Stream
• N4 MSO

Frank Eve, Managing Director of Frank Eve Consulting Limited continued “This research is now the most comprehensive research into lender and intermediary systems functionality and will provide a unique insight into e-commerce Best Practice for both lenders and intermediaries seeking to upgrade or enhance their current systems and strategy” The full breakdown of all functionality and categories can be found in the Studies together with all the individual questionnaires. Copies of the research are available from Frank Eve Consulting Limited.

Award Winners

Previous Awards

Technology Service Awards 2007