The Commonwealth Bank has become one of the first lenders to integrate the use of open banking in NextGen’s loan lodgement platform, ApplyOnline, in a move that is set to improve the home loan application experience for mortgage brokers, lenders, and customers alike.
In a media release, NextGen noted that fewer than 15% of all home loan applications are approved without the need for additional information post-submission, resulting in an average 14-day waiting period for unconditional approval across the industry – a pressing issue that incurs staff costs and creates operational inefficiencies for the 85% of applications that require extra information.
Open banking fixes this problem by enabling home loan borrowers to easily share their financial information with their broker through a secure and government-regulated channel.
“Open banking data expedites approval processes, reducing reworks, and enabling smoother processing,” Carn said. “It also enhances security by minimising fraud risk while preserving the integrity, authenticity, and provenance of customer data,” said Tony Carn (pictured above left), NextGen’s chief customer officer.
Carn said the big bank’s use of open banking in ApplyOnline “marks a transformative leap forward for the mortgage broking industry in Australia.”
“This is the step change the industry has been looking for and CBA’s decision underscores its commitment to leadership in technology and customer-centricity,” he said.
Michael Baumann (pictured above right), CBA’s executive general manager home buying, said both brokers and their clients would benefit from open banking.
“Through adopting open banking for mortgage brokers via ApplyOnline we hope to be able to create a more seamless home loan application experience for our customers and to equip brokers with the tools they need to best support their customers in reaching their homeownership goals,” Baumann said.
NextGen said it leverages government-regulated data sources to ensure the highest quality application data, and streamlines the application process, with ApplyOnline auto-populating customer data and generating tailored bank statements, to significantly enhance efficiency.
Get the hottest and freshest mortgage news delivered right into your inbox. Subscribe now to our FREE daily newsletter.
