UK mortgage lenders are increasingly prioritising technology and process reform as economic pressures continue to bear down on the sector, research from Landmark Information Group reveals.
The study found that 88% of lenders regard the economic climate, interest rates and the cost of living as a major or moderate concern, highlighting the difficult operating environment facing the industry.
Despite this, lenders are shifting their focus away from regulation and towards differentiation, efficiency and resilience.
Process inefficiency has overtaken regulation as lenders’ biggest frustration. Nearly half of a lender’s working day in 2025 – 45% – was spent chasing or responding to update requests from stakeholders, up from 32% a year earlier.
LONG TRANSACTION TIMES
As a result, 40% of lenders cited long transaction times as one of their top frustrations, replacing regulatory and administrative burdens which dominated concerns in 2024.
Now lenders are increasingly turning to technology to address these inefficiencies.
Almost half (48%) said they are investing in artificial intelligence to automate tasks and optimise operational workflows when asked which areas of their business they were prioritising to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Similarly, 45% identified the effective use of AI to automate routine tasks as one of the three factors that would have the greatest positive impact on productivity and business success.
CHANGING ATTITUDES
In 2024, 43% of lenders believed AI would have minimal impact on their work over the next five years. In 2025, that figure has fallen to just 3%, suggesting a sharp acceleration in adoption and a more mature view of its potential.
However, significant barriers remain. Legacy technology or limited IT capacity and budgets were cited by 63% of lenders as a constraint on progress, followed by data quality or completeness issues (55%) and security, privacy or compliance concerns (48%).
Even so, there is near-unanimous agreement on the need for better data sharing, with 98% of respondents saying that a secure, interoperable data repository would address the systemic inefficiencies that continue to slow transactions.
PROJECT 28
Landmark’s cross-industry initiative, Project 28 – a charter aimed at reducing the time from sale agreed to exchange to 28 days – has brought together hundreds of property professionals, from agents and conveyancers to lenders, to address a process that currently takes an average of 120 days.
Consumer research shows that most homebuyers and sellers would be willing to pay an upfront fee for more efficient data sharing if it delivered faster, more certain transactions.
The research also highlights how sustainability has become embedded across lender operations.
98% of lenders said sustainability is important to their organisation.
In 2025, 98% of lenders said sustainability is important to their organisation and confirmed that policies are in place and followed, up from 74% a year earlier.
Climate-related risks now dominate lenders’ concerns, with 45% citing climate change and flood risk as key issues, followed by coastal erosion (43%) and local planning risks (40%).
SHIFT IN FOCUS
Mike Holden (main picture, inset), divisional director of growth at Landmark Information Group, said: “What we are seeing in the latest lender research is a clear shift in focus. Regulation has not disappeared as a concern, but it is no longer dominating priorities. Instead, lenders are focused on addressing the practical inefficiencies that slow transactions and drain productivity.
“Lenders are increasingly turning to digitisation, automation, and AI to manage these pressures. While progress in sustainability and risk management remains vital, the overwhelming consensus on data sharing reinforces the need for a systemic fix.
“This is where Project 28 becomes essential, moving beyond individual tools to fix the process as a whole and finally deliver the speed and certainty the market requires.”
