These include Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley, West Bromwich Building Society, Loughborough Building Society and Cheltenham & Gloucester, the mortgage arm of LloydsTSB Group PLC, Effective from 31 October 2004, the new regulations represent one of the biggest process and technology upheavals for banks and building societies to date.
To standardise mortgage requirements, the FSA specified that all lenders must provide and present information in the same way so that borrowers can compare what each lenders offers. In order to assist lenders meet those far-reaching challenges, a Unisys team of more than 100 consultants focused on the project for over a year. The company adjusted both its Mortgage Quotation System (MQS) and Unisys Financial Services Solutions (UFSS) to provide an end-to-end mortgage offering, maximising sales across all channels– whilst helping financial organisations comply with the new FSA regulations.
Steve O’Loughlin, UK Head of Unisys Financial Services Solutions Sales commented, “If lenders cannot comply with the regulations, they stand to lose a disastrous amount of business and revenue through not being able to process mortgages. We made the promise to our clients that our solutions would comply with FSA regulations and so they are able to continue trading – saving them unaccountable losses. Our commitment resulted all our supported clients going live on their Unisys FSA-compliant systems actually ahead of the 31st October deadline.”
Chris Rhodes, Managing Director Retail Banking, Alliance & Leicester said, “The financial services industry is currently under pressure from regulatory change and the market. Unisys was able to fulfil its commitment to help us meet the legislative demands on time, thus easing the pressure of meeting FSA deadlines.”
Unisys is highly committed to the financial services sector, with five out of the top 10 UK mortgage lenders using Unisys Financial Services Solutions. Steve O’Loughlin added, “Banks and building societies are turning to Unisys as a trusted advisor because of our proven experience and expertise in the industry to provide timely solutions.”
