Technology standards group
Origo has completed work on anXML e-commerce standardfor the UK
mortgage industry.
Financed by mortgage lenders such as Abbey, HBOS, RBS as well as
large intermediaries, Origo said the standard will allow mortgage
brokers to
communicate electronically with different mortgage lenders.
"While lenders have invested considerable time and money
developing their distribution technology and online functionality
to meet this demand, the interoperability of these systems with
standards is now vital to allow disparate systems to be integrated
effectively for the benefit of the end user," said Paul Pettitt,
managing director of Origo.
Clive Longbottom, analyst at Quocirca, said lenders may not be
as enthusiastic as brokers. "Lenders like tied intermediaries and
the standard will allow intermediaries to more easily work with
competitors. They may not be so keen because they may feel they
will make less money due to competition."
He added that the standard must be dynamic and be able to change
in reaction to industry trends. "These may be legal such as the
requirement for lenders to take more information from
applicants."
Take up of the standard will influenced by the
Association of Mortgage
Intermediaries (AMI), which represents 11,000 mortgage brokers
as well as 30,000 mortgage practitioners.
AMI has surveyed its members to see if they would support an
e-commerce standard for the entire mortgage sales process. Richard
Farr, director at AMI, said the organisation has completed the
survey and is currently going through the results before deciding
how to advice its members. "We are currently number crunching," he
said.
