Revolutionising mortgages, one API at a time

Festina Finance has rolled out a new service on its 360-degree digital advisor that allows Danish banks to plug directly into Denmark’s largest lender’s APIs and provide customers with the next generation of customisable mortgage products and service.

In Denmark, there is a long-running joke that mortgages are our national sport. We are probably the only country in the world that makes front-page headlines with stories about conversions of mortgages. With mortgage lending such a major area of national importance, many of the country’s mortgage lenders have been updating the technology they use to improve service to customers.

A good example of this is the nation’s largest mortgage lender Totalkredit, which has been modernizing its IT system since 2017, with the goal of streamlining the administrative process for its 47 partner banks. It has developed a new mortgage system called the Ny Realkredit Platform (NRP), which provides advanced APIs that integrate mortgages directly into its partner banks’ advisory processes.

Festina Finance has now integrated Totalkredit’s APIs into its 360-degree advisor tool Festina Advisor. This new data stream combines with Festina Finance’s existing integration with the Nordic IT platform SDC.

Having all that information available in one system is an incredible asset, especially when you consider that previously the data was spread out across multiple sources.
Mark Wrobel, senior developer, Festina Finance 

For banks using Festina Advisor it means at the touch of a button, they can now get information on existing mortgage loans, house evaluations and initiate a completely digitized processes for remortgaging. “Having all that information available in one system is an incredible asset,” says Festina’s senior developer Mark Wrobel, “especially when you consider that previously the data was spread out across multiple sources.” He says the next step is to extend Advisor with a digitized process for mortgage origination with Totalkredit.

“The new system allows mortgage offerings to be executed much faster, with a higher degree of precision,” he adds.

Connecting the pieces of the puzzle

For front-line staff at Festina’s banking customers , the integration has had an immediate impact on how they process and manage mortgages, from automating workflows, streamlining administration and reducing human resources. “Before the NRP system was modernised and we adopted Festina Advisor, we were operating five different IT systems in order to make a mortgage offer,” says Maja Vestergaard Olesen, an advisor at one of Denmark’s largest savings banks Sparekassen Vendsyssel.

This greatly added to the overall complexity of the mortgage process, where all have different interest and contribution rates, and can be anything from brand new mortgages, refinancing, and taking on additional loans to other forms of restructuring.

Now staff advising clients at Sparekassen Vendsyssel can easily compare several types of loan and by having access to a greater range of data about each customer, can help each person to make the best decision based on their individual finances.

As Festina’s Wrobel adds, this is a specific aspect of the Festina Advisor system that creates a workflow with as few manual processes as possible.

“We want to offer our clients the best possible experience,” he says. “By providing their advisers with insight into each customer’s financial situation, they can quickly tailor and offer customers the right loan and reduce the time it takes for approval and signing.”

Strengthening client relationships

Another interesting feature of the NRP system is that it enables advisors to change the conditions on each loan, to provide a customized mortgage for each client.

This flexibility is particularly valuable in situations where an advisor consults the customer in person, as the NRP system can quickly change calculations and come up with the best solution for each individual.
“Not only does the new system reduce the complexity and cumbersomeness of the process, but it also reduces the risk of error, as the flow includes a quality assurance mechanism,” says Olesen from Sparekassen Vendsyssel.
“Ultimately, this strengthens our client relationships, as it makes us more confident in the products we offer.”