SPF Private Clients has agreed a multi-year partnership with Irish mortgage technology firm LendWell to introduce artificial intelligence across its mortgage and protection operations.
The agreement represents LendWell’s largest UK partnership to date, with implementation already underway and a wider rollout scheduled for 2027.
The technology will be configured to work alongside SPF’s existing systems and processes, automating administrative tasks associated with mortgage and protection cases.
It will use information held within individual cases to prepare documentation, manage follow-up activity and coordinate work required before submission, with the aim of reducing the administrative burden on advisers.
The platform is designed to connect case information with supporting evidence, allowing AI to undertake defined tasks that can subsequently be reviewed by advisers.
Professional responsibility for advice will remain with advisers, while lenders will continue to make credit decisions. LendWell’s technology will support the administrative, underwriting and operational processes surrounding those decisions.
UK EXPANSION
The SPF agreement follows LendWell’s deployment with Finance Solutions, part of Howden Ireland and described as Ireland’s largest mortgage broker.
Finance Solutions transferred its mortgage operations to the platform earlier this year, providing LendWell with experience of implementing its technology within a regulated mortgage business.
Jamie Lawless, co-founder and chief executive of LendWell, said: “Mortgage technology has spent years digitising processes, but digitising manual work isn’t the same as removing it. Too much mortgage expertise is still consumed by administration.
“We believe the next step is to put AI to work on the mortgage case itself, taking on more of that work rather than simply giving advisers another tool to use. That’s what we’re building LendWell to change.
“The aim isn’t to replace professional judgement, it’s to make better use of it. By reducing the work around that judgement, mortgage businesses can create more capacity to grow and advisers can spend more time with their clients.
“The opportunity is to take work off advisers’ desks by extracting information from documents, calls and other communications, linking it to supporting evidence and progressing cases more efficiently.
“With SPF, we are building that capability around the way its teams operate, so more of their expertise can be focused on serving clients and growing the business. We’re looking forward to working together to put that approach into practice.”
ADVISER CAPACITY
For SPF, the agreement forms part of efforts to increase adviser capacity without requiring a corresponding expansion in administrative resources.
James Rodea, managing director at SPF Private Clients, said: “Our advisers’ expertise and the relationships they build with clients are at the heart of our business, so we’re always looking at how technology can help them spend more time where it adds most value.
“What we liked about LendWell was its focus on reducing the work around the advice, while working with our existing systems and processes. That gives us the flexibility to introduce the technology in a way that works for our business.
“Ultimately, this is about creating more capacity for our people while continuing to deliver the high level of advice and personal service our clients expect.”
