Not-for-profit IT standards agency Origo came into being in the Summer of 1989 on the back of collaboration between 16 life assurance companies who were looking to improve electronic trading in the market.
That remit has now grown much wider and at the moment Origo is involved in numerous projects including its work to develop common data standards for the mortgage industry.
Effective communication
At the mention of standards, people automatically think of rules and regulations such as those that the Financial Services Authority might impose, but this is not what Origo is about. The idea is to create a template for the data used in electronic trading so that the different computer systems that companies use can communicate effectively with each other without the need for bespoke IT integration work each and every time.
The bundles of code, which describe paper-based documents such as a full mortgage application, a decision-in-principle or a Key Facts Illustration (KFI), are known as schema. Obviously each and every party in the mortgage industry has a slightly different way of doing business.
They ask for different information, they use different phraseology and they ask for information in different formats. However if every business can input this data using the elements they need taken from a single, agreed template it can be integrated and then passed much more easily between parties, and once they have it they can choose to illustrate it and use it on their own company systems as they like.
Origo is therefore all about creating an environment in which integration between systems is less intricate. Consequently information passes more quickly between companies’ systems making it easier and cheaper to do business.
A degree of caution
A number of intermediaries remain committed to their own IT programmes. These initiatives have pushed systems integration up the agenda of many lenders, adding momentum to the debate around standards. Given the investment required and the current state of the financial markets there is also a degree of caution as to how much firms are prepared to invest. After all, our core business is not IT but mortgages and in the rush to embrace technology this is a fact no one wants to lose sight of.
Hopefully, however, we are getting to a stage where the advancements made are beginning to offer something tangible to the market and begin to persuade those who have hitherto held back that it is now time to climb aboard and support the work being done by Origo.
Definite progress
Earlier in the year standards were released for mortgage agreements-in-principle, and KFIs and those for full applications, mortgage tracking and product data are expected to be ready for next Summer.
Now that IT departments have something to work with and can see some definite progress being made, the hope is that company boards will increasingly see Origo as the way forward and accept its standards as the industry benchmark.
For those who have worried that standardising their data will perhaps take an edge off their commercial sharpness, it is important to focus on what the adoption of standards across the market will achieve.
It is not about trying to get firms to lose their identity and relinquish control on the information they ask and require for their lending practices. Instead it is about ensuring that this data is passed in a single format, which can then be moved more quickly between parties.
For mortgage lenders this makes it very much easier to set up multiple partnerships as integrating IT systems will become less of a burden on resources and budgets. For brokers, it will become much easier to send off multiple applications and cascade cases across a number of lenders. Using the standards will also make choice wider for advisers as access will not be exclusive to only those with the biggest IT budget. In turn this will benefit customers.
Building momentum
So far Origo has chipped away at the problems and inch by inch begun to make some real progress. Now that it has begun to release some of its proposed standards with a clear timetable set for others, momentum should build and we will hopefully get to a stage where there is a general acceptance for Origo’s work from the market as a whole.
Over the last couple of years, most people have accepted the benefits that a shared set of data standards could bring and have sought to develop them for themselves in a bid to create a commercial advantage. This is completely understandable, although it has meant that different groups have been pulling in different directions.
If we can accept that these standards are simply a requirement of any efficient modern day financial services market and put our support and weight behind Origo, then once we begin to see business partners commit to the standards, we shall see this initiative gain momentum.
Whether this happens remains to be seen, but it is a prospect that is worth getting excited about.
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