The claim was part of the second series of Bluestone’s ‘Specialist Lending Tracker’, which looks at trends and sentiment in the specialist market.
Half of brokers (50%) believe that Open Banking will have a positive effect on the specialist lending market, according to research from Bluestone Mortgages.
Open Banking was initially launched in January 2018 but its impact on the specialist lending market has so far been limited.
The technology is particularly beneficial when it comes to catering for borrowers with more complex income or expenditure patterns.
Steve Seal, managing director at Bluestone Mortgages, said: “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 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’s latest ‘Specialist Lending Tracker’ also revealed brokers’ thoughts on the impact of technology more broadly in the specialist lending market.
It found that 65% of brokers think that technology driving efficiency across the application process will have a positive impact on the market.
However, 38% expect under-utilised technology to have a negative impact on the market.
Looking ahead to the next 12 months, 17% of brokers thought that a rise in technology driving efficiency across the application process will be the biggest driver of growth in the market.
Seal added: “As more brokers embrace technology, the specialist lending market will continue to grow.
"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.”
Bluestone Mortgages was the first specialist lender to pilot Open Banking technology in January 2019.
