At a recent event at OnDeck Capital in Toronto, our CEO Alex Conconi was on a panel of experts discussing the impact of technology on lending. As a software company working on establishing an easier way to process applications, it’s a topic that is at the front of our minds, always.
Alex was joined by Tim Rye, Head of Lending Technology at Finastra, the global fintech company formerly known as D+H. Also on the panel were Frédérick Lavoie, COO of Flinks, a leader in financial data aggregation in Canada that is a provider to financial institutions and fintech companies around the world, and Amar Ahluwalia, VP of Partnerships & Capital Markets for OnDeck. The hosts, OnDeck, are a commercial lender offering small business loans like inventory management capital, merchant advances, equipment financing, and payroll advances.
Together, the four discussed the merits of disruptive technology on the lending system. A major focus of the discussion was on the benefits of technology and how brokers can leverage modern tools to drive competitive advantage and efficiencies.
With such a focus on new tech and a “better way,” Alex pointed out that technology can play a bigger role than just saving time for brokers and borrowers. It also plays a key role in the prevention of fraud and errors.
Efficiencies, But Also Security
There’s an obvious segue into discussing our first publicly available product, Level, which verifies down payments through the use of a mobile app. Level allows brokers to invite their borrowers to authenticate through the app, where their bank account records for the past three months (the required timeframe for mortgage applications in Canada) are made available for download the by the broker.
It’s a process that is a lot more convenient than the status quo of attempting to print statements, and often having incomplete information, missing accounts, or the obvious challenge of borrowers who are not savvy enough to generate the statements in the first place. But more importantly than that, the information comes directly from the financial institution and is protected by our stringent security protocols. This has the effect of making the data “tamper proof” by either party and adds some continuity to the verification process. For true staying power in the finance industry, compliance and security are paramount.
Alex will continue to pursue opportunities to spread this message, while we continue to build products that we believe will be useful and truly disrupt the lending space. If you have questions about Level or Lendesk’s other products, or if you’d like to invite Alex or another of our team members to speak at your event, get in touch with us using hello@lendesk.com.