How mortgage lenders win: Broker advocacy in a highly competitive market
Solución
The UK mortgage market has shifted decisively toward intermediaries in recent years. Brokers currently account for 87% of all UK mortgages, a figure that’s forecast to reach 91% by the end of this year.
With more than 100 lenders competing for broker business, the question facing every mortgage lender is, how to stand out from the crowd?
The answer? By creating experiences that drive advocacy and growth.
How can mortgage lenders win broker advocacy in a highly competitive market
The UK mortgage market has shifted decisively toward intermediaries in recent years. Brokers currently account for 87% of all UK mortgages, a figure that’s forecast to reach 91% by the end of this year.
With more than 100 lenders competing for broker business, the question facing every mortgage lender is, how to stand out from the crowd?
The answer?
By creating experiences that drive advocacy and growth
The stakes have never been higher for lenders
According to Smart Money People's recent Mortgage Lender Benchmark, the five factors brokers care most about today are processing speed, ease of application, common-sense underwriting, high-quality support, and transparency. Brokers are therefore increasingly directing their valuable client relationships to lenders who make their lives easier, not necessarily the ones that compete solely on price.
Get it right, and the prize for lenders is loyalty and growth. But get it wrong, and they won’t just lose applications, but entire relationships; perhaps even ones they’ve invested significant time and money in cultivating.
Three key ways lenders fall short on experience expectations
The research pinpoints three critical shortfalls that are damaging lender/broker relationships:
Decisioning uncertainty: Poor underwriting experience accounts for over 21% of all negative broker feedback. Brokers are frustrated by slow and inconsistent decision-making late-stage requests for additional information, inflexibility, and poor communication. All of which are serving to erode trust. As the report puts it, a quick "no" is as valuable as a quick "yes."
Application friction: Clunky portals, manual processes, and unclear criteria tools are creating a painful cycle of back-and-forth. The infamous "one more thing" request, whereby additional documents are requested piecemeal throughout the application process, is frequently cited as a top broker frustration.
Communication black holes: Brokers shouldn't need to constantly pick up the phone to get updates on progress. Real-time visibility isn't a luxury anymore; it's a standard service expectation.
So, what are leading lenders doing differently? Leading lenders are winning broker loyalty by investing in three unified capabilities:
Frictionless submission processes: They’re delivering pre-populated applications, intelligent document upload with real-time validation, and API integrations to authoritative data sources. When brokers can submit applications and can trust that issues will be flagged quickly, submission quality improves, saving time for both broker and lender alike.
Transparent communication: Leaders present a unified dashboard giving brokers real-time case status at a glance. Likewise, they’re delivering proactive milestone notifications and the ability for brokers to communicate directly within the platform. A unified view that drives both speed and trust.
Speed and decisioning confidence: Leaders harness automated data-driven decisioning and smart triage to ensure brokers are allocated the right underwriters at the right time.
To give a real-world example of what a great experience looks like in practice, OSB Group, working with nCino and Publicis Sapient, now delivers mortgage offers in under 24 hours, with brokers able to register and start a case in under 4 minutes, and initial decisioning certainty in under 10.
The path forward
For lenders wondering where to begin, the roadmap is straightforward. Listen to the broker panel, identify the manual touchpoints causing the most friction, invest in integrated technology rather than point solutions, and build for scale. In today’s intermediary-driven market, a seamless broker experience isn’t optional; it’s a competitive necessity.
Lenders that prioritise broker experience through modern, integrated technology will be best positioned to capture market share and build sustainable partnerships.
Ready to lead with experience?
Partner with nCino to transform your broker experience and position your institution for sustainable growth in an increasingly intermediary-driven market.
Access our new guide, Beyond the Portal: How Lenders Win with Brokers to find out more.
The future of lending is Simplified. Personalised. Connected. Request a demo to see the nCino mortgage solution in action, or visit us on stand 98 at the Building Societies Annual Conference on 28th & 29th April in Edinburgh.