Smartr365 has teased an upcoming partnership with a major lender, which would bring it up to 62% market coverage, nearing a two-thirds tipping point the business predicted will see much higher broker uptake of automated services.
Speaking at an event focused on Open Banking in partnership with Nationwide Building Society, Conor Murphy, founder of Smartr365, outlined a ‘platform world’ view of the future, connecting advisers, lenders, customers and ancillaries through tech, from fact-finding through to conveyancing and general insurance.
He suggested that once approximately two-thirds of major lenders had adopted automation, brokers would no longer prefer to rely on manual processes, but would start actively looking for automation as part of the process.
Murphy said this tipping point for lenders had already been reached, where only a few years ago it would have been difficult to get high street names to engage on the topic of Open Banking.
However, he said this widespread adoption does not mean moving towards full automation of the advice process.
Murphy said: “We have a real belief in the adviser. Four or five years ago there was lots of noise about robo-advice, that there would eventually be no advisers, but we never believed that.
“The industry is very effective already, customers tend to get very good advice outcomes, so what we focus on is the lost time in the middle – how can we automate more of the process and allow the adviser to focus on the advice.”
