In the current environment of dynamic market conditions and remote work, credit unions, banks and other financial institutions are seeking solutions that promote agility and efficient operations. This is where technology offers a helping hand in terms of offering a more flexible and personal lending experience.

Moneylenders in Singapore and other parts of the world are embracing technology to proactively simplify the lending process.

Here are some lending technology trends that are here to stay.

Elimination of the Barriers Between Digital and Physical Channels

Due to COVID-19, physical channels have been off the tables, creating a massive impact on lenders. So they’re ensuring their clients understand how they can complete standard in-person transactions via digital channels. In the long-term, lenders are realizing that it’s possible to do transactions without relying on physical channels.

As a result, financial institutions are focusing more on digital transformation but the organizations that have already invested in lending technology prior to 2020 are already seeing results, such as increases in applications and completions of transactions and consistent pull-through rates. Financial institutions already with digital solutions are benefiting from investments that are taking off and flourishing.

Opportunities for Personalized and Effective Marketing

Many lending institutions are starting to scratch the surface of the data they potentially took for granted. When it comes to marketing offers, banks often treat clients as if they are one of a million, instead of one in a million. Instead of treating your clients like they’re just a face in the crowd, start using your data to personalize individual product offers.

Apart from the standard personalization of rates and fees, lenders have the chance to better demonstrate to clients why they have to purchase a product. For example, send an email with a personalized offer for clients who are pre-approved for a credit card. Once they click the link, they’re led to a product selection tool, required to answer some questions and displayed products that may suit their needs.

If you are a lending institution how and where your clients spend their money, you must convince your clients that your products are ideal for them and that they get rewards when they invest in you. Use the customer data you have to hone what specific products can do for your clients. Marketing software can also help you get the job done.

Automation of Key Processes

Apart from using data to determine a borrower’s creditworthiness, financial institutions also use technology to automate several processes. For instance, more organizations have automated their risk assessment, which speeds up the lending process.

Thanks to automation, financial institutions can reduce their overhead costs, thereby providing clients with competitive interest rates.

Adoption of a Unified Lending Platform for Operational Flexibility

Conversations surrounding the unity of lending platforms across all offers often involve borrowers. From simplified applications to omnichannel features, it’s easy to be distracted by the positive results clients report. This year’s increase in mortgage refinance loans, however, has put the spotlight on a different benefit.

When the demand wanes or surges for a specific loan type, a unified lending platform enables organizations to shift employees to a variety of loan types that suit their specific needs. For many businesses this year, there was a decrease in auto loans but a spike in mortgages. In this case, financial institutions are familiar with the platform, which makes operational flexibility easier.

Finding more ways to improve agility will become increasingly important for banks as the lending landscape continues to adapt to the world’s changing needs.

Creating Efficiency by Unlocking Unstructured Data

A promising trend in the lending technology industry is the use of optical character recognition (OCR) to examine different types of data. Whether it’s image files or account statements, digital lending solutions can pull out data and put them in relevant fields, which can simplify the loan decision processes.

Unstructured data is the key to speeding up efficiency in lending institutions and improving the customer experience. A decent amount of vendors offer OCR technology to sort through a variety of data, freeing up loan officers from doing manual labor. This OCR technology also helps businesses automate follow-up processes, as well as reduce errors in operations.

Technology is Driving Online Lending Today

Technology is making financial institutions more efficient, transparent and user-friendly at all levels by introducing better financial products and services, as well as offering better ways of processing payments and moving money. Thanks to technology, more banks and financial institutions develop better ways of cutting costs and improving their services for clients while dealing with a more complex financial system.