Roma Finance has completed the pilot phase of offering an Open Banking solution to its customers.

The bridging and development lender says its utilisation of Open Banking since the start of September 2018 has proven to be the fastest, easiest and most secure way for Roma to access a read-only version of its applicants’ bank statements.

Open Banking is a UK government backed scheme within retail financial services, which allows authorised third parties to securely share banking transaction information.

It has helped Roma’s brokers and customers by removing the hassle and delays often associated with the collection of paper statements.

In October 2017, Roma introduced a Fast Track lending process which resulted in its ability to complete most cases within 15 days and this new initiative improves the process further.

Scott Marshall (pictured), managing director of Roma Finance, said: “We are continuing our strategy of investing in technology to ensure Roma Finance is the most technologically advanced lender in our sector. It’s our intention to constantly improve the way bridging loans are completed for the benefit of our introducers and their customers.

“We’re already completing many cases inside 15 days and implementing technological solutions such as Open Banking will help everyone involved and lead to a smarter way to make good and timely lending decisions.”