Reduce Lending Risk in the Omnichannel Environment

Credit risk and risk associated with digital origination and authentication have become top of mind for bank boards and executives. Banks that are able to optimize lending practices to give consumers faster and more efficient experiences and interactions throughout their digital lending journey are seeing greater pickup and success.

Today, many borrowers prefer application processes that accommodate both digital and staff-assisted capabilities when seeking a loan. To process loans in an omnichannel delivery ecosystem, banks are turning to lending options that have the ability to prospect, originate, underwrite, process and close secured and unsecured credit cards, lines of credit and installment loans.

Manually assessing an applicant, their collateral and whether the loan meets the bank’s compliance requirements and lending policies increases the risk of inconsistencies, oversights and unintended consequences. Automation provides institutions with consistent inputs, analysis, compliant processes and calculations, predetermined classifications, accurate risk-based pricing, consistent warnings for policy exceptions and predictable decisions and outcomes with greater speed and efficiency. It also improves the interpretation and analysis of the applicant, credit, debt obligations, collateral and the execution of the institution’s inclusion/exclusion policies, such as summing up debt totals and calculating ratios used in the underwriting process. It can calculate the proposed loan payment, annual percentage rate (APR), and ratios at the applicant, household, business, guarantor and loan levels. It can also calculate custom credit scores.

While banks receive many benefits from using digital channels to serve borrowers, they also face vulnerabilities and risks such as fraudulent applications and data privacy concerns. In addition, digital lending might require a bank to collaborate with numerous third-party fintechs, exposing both borrowers and the institution to new and heightened levels of risk.

Banks need more cost-effective processes and decision models to address qualification ratios associated with online lending. These models should employ analytics and automation that can decline, decision, and refer applications appropriately to maintain an institution’s profitability, mitigate risk and not overwhelm lenders.

Mitigating Credit Risk and Increasing Productivity
Technology simplifies the loan origination process for banks and customers by guiding customers through each step in the process. Technology and automation can eliminate errors and the need to rekey data, which streamlines operations and enables staff to focus on additional revenue-generating opportunities.

Institutions that would prefer to slowly test automated decisioning can start with automated decisioning for denials for applications that fall outside of loan policy. An instant denial allows loan teams to focus on profitable and better-qualified candidates. Decisioning analytics evaluate areas such as credit quality, borrower stability and collateral risk. A decision and rules engine applies industry standards, institution-specific rules and policies and custom attributes, such as credit report analysis, for automated decision support during the loan origination process.

Automated solutions can provide speedy decisions while meeting compliance standards. This can help boost employee productivity; the consolidated customer information and loan details provides a 360-degree view of the overall financial relationship and deal structure. Bank associates can manage and expand relationships and target product recommendations based on customer needs.

An Omnichannel Environment for Lending
The technology and analytics of an omnichannel environment gives banks a competitive advantage when it comes to loan origination. Applicants can shop and compare loan options, submit loan applications and receive real-time automated decisioning and status updates.

An omnichannel ecosystem provides seamless start, save and resume cross-channel application processing: customers can begin the research and application process on a mobile device, continue the application and upload documents on an alternate digital device, and engage live assistance from contact center or branch lending specialists without losing their progress. The technology can guide customers and staff members through each phase, improving customer engagement by triggering staff actions and automating workflows. Digital capabilities intertwined with human engagement increases staff productivity and efficiency through analytics and workflow.

The omnichannel approach balances technology and human resource allocation based on customer need and complexity. Technology automates business criteria to issue decisions in real time or have the loans manually reviewed by underwriters, if warranted. Applying decisioning analytics allows banks to strengthen governance, risk and compliance by establishing proof of process. An omnichannel delivery environment that drives the application and origination process gives banks a way to provide a seamless lending experience that meets customers’ needs.