Fifty per cent of mortgage brokers believe open banking will have a positive effect on the specialist lending market, according to a new study by Bluestone Mortgages.

Bluestone was the first specialist lender to pilot open banking technology in January this year, and the latest information is part of the second series of Bluestone’s ‘Specialist Lending Tracker’ – which looks at trends in the specialist market.

While open banking was initially launched in January 2018, Bluestone has suggested its impact on the specialist lending market has so far been limited.

The latest figures, however, have confirmed that awareness amongst brokers is increasing, which could prompt greater adoption by specialist lenders over time.

Bluestone managing director, Steve Seal, commented: “Open banking has already delivered major benefits for the UK’s high-street lenders – and now it’s time for specialist lenders to follow suit. It’s great to see that brokers recognise the potential that this kind of technology holds for the specialist lending market.

“The fact that open banking can make accessing customer data much easier, radically reduce decision times and vastly improve customer outcomes, (it) will be invaluable to a sector that caters for complex borrowers. We hope to see the solution gain more traction in the specialist market going forwards.”

Bluestone has suggested that open banking technology is particularly beneficial when it comes to catering for borrowers with more complex income or expenditure patterns.

The specialist lender believes that through the provision of detailed underlying bank transaction data, all lenders are presented with better quality and more timely information to support a mortgage approval.

“As more brokers embrace technology, the specialist lending market will continue to grow,” Seal added.

“Technology has quite clearly demonstrated its ability to improve the application process over recent years, and will continue to contribute to the positive customer outcomes that specialist lenders and brokers deliver.

“It will be vital that all brokers are equipped with the digital tools that they need in order to feed technology into the application process effectively and maximise the potential that it holds both for themselves and their clients.”

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