The VEX platform, which is said to significantly cut down time and administration.
EDM Mortgage Support Services has pledged to automate 75% of mortgage industry and lender processes with an upgrade to its ‘valuation exchange’ (VEX) platform – with Santander being the first lender to use the new version.
The VEX platform, which is said to quicken up administration, enables lenders to distribute and receive work from solicitors, while surveying businesses can communicate with their surveyor panels and allocate valuations to the most suitable surveyor.
The upgrade is initially being applied to the commercial VEX platform used by Santander, but can be used in similar commercial, residential and buy-to-Let VEX platforms used by lenders such as Barclays Bank and One Savings Bank.
Joe Pepper, managing director of EDM MSS, said: “This new generation of functionality represents a major step forward in bringing the UK mortgage industry up to date, moving historically manual processes onto digital, online fit-for-purpose technology.
“Going forward both lenders and the various mortgage professionals, including brokers, who support the UK mortgage chain will start to see key processes brought online, making the process faster, safer and more transparent for all parties, including the customer.”
EDM said new technology being used to upgrade Commercial VEX at Santander is designed to help lenders five ways: To minimise risk by using automated system checks checks on property portfolios and a full audit trail to help reduce fraud risk, to improve financial control with a HMRC-approved self-billing suite, to enable real-time case monitoring and tracking of the valuation, to provide management information such as online reports and to enable full panel management control by helping users engage with hundreds of commercial surveying firms.
Daniel Woodhouse, head of corporate and commercial property risk at Santander, said: “This enhanced system represents a real step in delivering an effective end-to-end managed process for our customers.
“Processing mortgage applications quickly with accurate and timely data is a key element of our proposition to customers, and with the valuation process available on a single platform we can monitor the whole process end-to-end and maximise the use of our data in a secure environment.”
