As the mortgage market continues to evolve, technological advancements are reshaping how our industry operates.
All lenders are increasingly focused on exploring ways technology can support business growth while maintaining operational efficiencies and ensuring first-class customer service. This transformation is driven by advancements in automation and seamless system integrations, which are now critical components across all lenders in whichever sectors they support.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is definitely being utilised by some to varying effect, but there remains a “greyness” to what is true AI and what is just marketing around good old-fashioned automation and decisioning that has been around for more than two decades.
Specialist lending – a growing market full of potential
The mortgage sector is showing signs of steady activity, particularly as lenders and intermediaries respond to shifting borrower needs and regulatory expectations. According to the latest data from UK Finance, there were 38,510 new loans advanced to older borrowers in Q1 2025, up 33.5% year on year. The value of this lending was £6.1bn, which was up 42.6% compared with the same quarter a year previously.
Taking later life lending as an example, growth in completions highlights the requirement for this increasingly important sector, but the operational challenge is universal: how to transform and scale effectively without compromising service and creating company-wide disruption.
We are seeing that lenders across all sectors – specialist lenders, challenger banks and building societies – are reviewing incumbent technology to ensure servicing platforms are fully automated, cost-efficient and future-proofed. And this is across savings providers as well.
Enhancing efficiency through automation
Automation in loan servicing should always be a fundamental delivery of any software house delivering in this space, but not many truly achieve it. By replacing manual processes with systematic, rule-based workflows, organisations are reaping significant benefits.
Today, there are still spreadsheets being used outside of systems, manual processes, QA checks around statement and other important documentation etc. If this is still happening in 2025 then fundamentally the incumbent servicing or core platform is just not working for the client.
Once a case completes, the only time it should be manually dealt with is when an event happens that is not expected; contact from the borrower via telephone, email or letter, a missed payment, or whatever the event is, users of an efficient servicing platform can concentrate on these cases and get the right outcomes as they do not have to worry about the rest of the book as it is being administrated in an automated way by the technology itself.
How technology can drive future growth
Modern, automated technology should be at the heart of all banks, specialist lenders and building societies and will enable growth but keep costs down. Technology should be API-led and include seamless integration with all other internal and third-party systems that make up an organisation’s infrastructure, including originations platform, customer portals, GL systems and BI/DWH.
Clients that fully utilise the Phoebus Product application programming interface (API) suite are better positioned to integrate all internal systems to create a cohesive, efficient workflow-driven, automated operation which reduces costs and enhances the borrower experience.
With the transfer of loan books between asset owners and third-party servicers now the norm, automated migration tools have become essential. Utilising APIs for migration can significantly reduce the time required for these transactions.
Phoebus clients, for instance, have achieved migrations within six to nine weeks. This accelerated process not only makes transactions more attractive and cost effective, but substantially de-risks transformation programmes, especially when changing servicing technology suppliers.
At the forefront of this technology, lenders are increasingly capable of managing their own migrations with minimal external support. This represents a significant cost saving over platforms that require supplier assistance.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that technology continues to play a defining role in the future of the mortgage market, and many lenders are now considering the post completion customer experience. Legacy platforms just do not deliver the efficiencies and cost savings a modern product will provide. The secret is finding a supplier with experience and has seen it and done it over the years without fail.
Automation is not merely a tool for enhancing operational efficiency; it is an integral factor in maintaining excellent customer service and supporting business growth. Whether in mainstream or specialist segments, lenders are compelled to continuously review and update servicing level agreements (SLAs).
Embracing flexible API ecosystems and automated migration technologies, like those inherent in the latest Phoebus Product, ensure that lenders remain competitive in an ever-evolving market while delivering seamless, transparent and efficient customer experiences.
This thoughtful integration of technology ultimately transforms the mortgage journey into a clear, customer-centric pathway towards long-term financial confidence, meaning a great result for organisations and their customers alike.
Richard Pike is chief sales and marketing officer at Phoebus Software.
