Mortgage lenders could use artificial intelligence to attract more customers directly, putting pressure on mainstream intermediaries while leaving specialist advisers relatively better protected, industry figures have suggested.
James Tucker, chief executive of Twenty7Tec, predicted that lenders would increasingly deploy AI technology to compete for borrowers whose mortgage requirements could be assessed through relatively straightforward criteria.
Speaking during a discussion on AI and the future of mortgage advice at the Brightstar Specialist Lending Expo on 7 October, Tucker said the consequences for specialist advisers were likely to be different.
He argued that complex lending decisions, where cases require interpretation of individual circumstances and lender appetite, would remain more difficult to automate.
Tucker said: “Mainstream lenders are going to go after customers in that way via these tools, and they will be successful as a result of it.”
He predicted that intermediaries could lose market share in straightforward mortgage transactions as lenders developed more sophisticated direct distribution capabilities.
However, he considered the threat less pronounced in specialist lending, where cases frequently involve circumstances that cannot readily be reduced to fixed criteria.
HUMAN OVERSIGHT REMAINS ESSENTIAL
Kate Cowan, chief financial and operating officer at Hope Capital, said AI was already helping the lender improve its processes, but warned against treating the technology as a substitute for professional judgement.
She said: “We use technology to enhance what we can do, rather than actually do the job for us.”
Cowan questioned whether existing systems were sufficiently reliable to take responsibility for entire functions without human involvement.
She said: “It’s not where it needs to be where you can say, ‘I can replace that complete function or that complete person’.”
She emphasised the difficulties of automating decisions within bridging finance and other specialist lending markets, where individual cases frequently require a tailored assessment.
Cowan said: “Every deal is different. Every deal is unique.”
She added: “That’s where technology doesn’t replace us.”
Cowan also raised concerns about the use of generative AI in routine business communications, warning that automatically produced material could create risks if users failed to review it properly.
She referred to the growing use of ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot, suggesting that such tools could turn relatively simple matters into unnecessarily lengthy or complicated exchanges.
She said: “People will become lazier. Loads of people have the plugins for Claude or Copilot on the side of their emails, and they’re generating all these emails, but actually, are they reading them?”
She added: “Is what they say what they actually think, or is it what the computer thinks it wants to think? That’s going to cause issues further down the line.”
Tucker similarly acknowledged that although AI had improved development productivity at Twenty7Tec, its output continued to require validation.
The discussion highlighted the differing implications of AI adoption across the mortgage industry, with greater scope for automation in standardised lending and a continuing requirement for experienced professionals in complex cases.
