Legacy expertise stays a formidable impediment within the mortgage market, hindering effectivity, innovation and adaptableness. Outdated methods impede companies, leaving them susceptible to market shifts and aggressive pressures.
Josh Skelding is the business director at Fignum, a Cambridge-based software program improvement firm, specialising in mortgage origination and companies for mortgages, motor finance, and varied different mortgage varieties.
Right here, Skelding breaks down how the agency is tackling an area stricken by legacy tech, the way it hopes to assist companies evolve, in addition to what the longer term holds in retailer.
Inform us extra about your organization and its providing
Launched in 2019 as a part of the Bluestone Group, Fignum is a software program improvement firm specialising in mortgage origination and servicing for mortgages, motor finance, and varied different mortgage varieties.
Our extremely configurable expertise is on the forefront of our providing, and what units us other than our rivals. The software program is tailor-made to fulfill the advanced calls for of at the moment’s market by automating lending choices, doc processing, and funds.
Initially the devoted in-house IT group for the Bluestone Group, our options are additionally cast from real-world expertise in monetary companies, developed with lenders’ wants in thoughts, and embrace over 30 integration choices for suppliers, reflecting our adaptability.
What drawback was your organization set as much as resolve?
Fignum was created to sort out the challenges posed by outdated legacy expertise, which frequently lacks intuitiveness and ease of navigation for customers.
The mortgage market has been marked by instability lately, with risky swap charges inflicting widespread product withdrawals, typically with little or no discover. For a lot of lenders, dependency on legacy expertise has develop into a big barrier to reacting to those adjustments. Our versatile and built-in mortgage origination platform turns this on its head and allows lenders to react swiftly.
Our platform is designed for simple integration with each trendy and legacy methods, overcoming outdated technological inefficiencies. By remodeling the onboarding course of, we are able to present extra aggressive mission timelines and prices, enabling companies to adapt to new market realities shortly.
Since launch, how has your organization developed?
Fignum has skilled important progress and transformation, firmly establishing itself throughout the Bluestone Group alongside entities equivalent to Bluestone Mortgages, Bluestone Motor Finance (Eire), and Bluestone Shopper Finance.
In 2023, Bluestone Mortgages and Bluestone Motor Finance had been acquired by Shawbrook Financial institution and Shut Brothers respectively. This variation has redirected Fignum’s focus in the direction of leveraging and commercialising the cutting-edge expertise that drives the success of those companies.
Drawing on our technological experience, we’ve a confirmed monitor document of enhancing operational effectivity and facilitating revolutionary monetary options, equivalent to Bluestone Mortgages pioneering the Deposit Unlock scheme. Our objective is to make our expertise extra broadly accessible whereas persevering with to innovate and broaden our affect throughout monetary companies.
What has been the largest problem or most ‘difficult second’ to beat?
One in all our main challenges has been figuring out which options to prioritise inside our improvement agenda.
The mortgage and motor finance sectors have been significantly risky, compounded by the current FCA investigation into discretionary fee. The financial and political landscapes additional complicate issues, requiring us to strike a stability between adaptability and strategic planning.
What are your largest achievements or ‘proudest moments’ thus far?
Our most notable achievement has been the speedy improvement of our software program, accomplished inside 18 months from scratch. Creating an answer with a wide selection of performance, configurability and an easy-to-use interface isn’t any simple feat and a testomony to the collective effort of the entire group.
We developed our expertise with a give attention to seamless integration with our consumer’s enterprise processes, making certain minimal coaching necessities whereas maximising the effectivity of the implementation course of, demonstrating our dedication to offering agile expertise – a vital facet as companies adapt to altering market situations.
How would you describe the tradition of your organization?
Our tradition is a key a part of this success. We work in a supportive and pleasant atmosphere, with a robust dedication to technological innovation. Working with a flat hierarchical construction, we promote transparency and encourage each group member to actively contribute to driving change in addition to creativity. This collaborative method allows us to ship cutting-edge options that meet the wants of our clients.
Positioned in Cambridge, a UK tech hub, we’re decided to remain on the forefront of tech developments, and this additionally provides us entry to a few of the most distinctive expertise obtainable.
We frequently host workshops on innovation which might be changing into an everyday incidence within the workplace. AI is already remodeling the monetary companies panorama, and we frequently focus on AI options and discover how the expertise could be utilized to mortgage origination. These classes present a useful platform for collective brainstorming and discovering new concepts.
What’s in retailer for the longer term?
That is just the start for Fignum. As we glance ahead, our options are able to affect monetary companies on a big scale. This 12 months, we plan to roll out our companies to extra mortgage lenders and motor finance suppliers to reinforce their choices and higher serve their clients. We’ve not too long ago develop into a company member of Asset Finance Join. This partnership is a key milestone and likewise permits us to collaborate intently with trade leaders to drive ahead the development of expertise in motor finance.
Within the subsequent few months, we’re excited to unveil our up to date web site and rebrand of our mortgage origination product. We’ll even be attending trade occasions to attach with our friends, together with the Constructing Societies Annual Convention in Could and Credit score Week in Wales this June, to share data on the most recent trade subjects.
