Brokers will soon be able to streamline the mortgage application process whilst cooking breakfast.
A survey of 22 lenders found almost half (46 per cent) were actively reviewing voice activated services following the success of devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home.
Henry Woodcock, principal mortgage consultant at Iress, the fintech firm which conducted the survey, said the move towards voice activation would increase efficiency and ease for brokers working remotely.
Voice activation integrated into a lender’s mortgage system is expected to allow client applications to be checked without the need to sit in front of a computer, effectively removing the manual typing aspect of case management, Mr Woodcock said.
He said the focus of voice activated services was expected to be on the broker rather than the consumer side, as the repeat business would make the technological investment cost effective.
Mr Woodcock anticipated the service would soon be integrated with cars, offering the potential to transform a broker’s work efficiency whilst driving.
But he said there was a risk mid sized lenders would be left out of the mortgage market's tech-revolution.
Iress' survey included a cross section of specialist lenders, regional building societies, new entrants and high street names.
A number of lenders Financial Adviser spoke to did not want to confirm whether they were dabbling in this space. But Yorkshire Building Society said it was actively exploring voice activated services.
A spokesman said: "We are looking at a range of ways of improving the way our customers interact with us digitally.
"The huge growth in voice-related search and advances in voice-related technology mean this is an area we are actively exploring."
Liz Syms, chief executive at Connect Mortgages, said she was witnessing a "rapid path" of new technologies in the mortgage industry.
She said: "I am a big advocate of technology that improves the process and journey for both customers and brokers.
"For advisers like myself, new technologies are great but there are still many advisers who will not yet be engaging with online chat, let alone Alexa."
Ms Syms expects an increasing number of brokers to benefit from technological advances, allowing them to spend less time on administrative processing and more on advising.
Carl Shave, director at Just Mortgage Brokers, said brokers welcomed developments in technology but were most concerned about applications reaching offer stage with the least burden on their time.
He added: "Whilst I have no doubt these advances in voice activated systems will enhance the broker and lender relationship, brokers are still likely to simply want to see lenders maintain processing times when business levels increase and have the ability to talk to a human being at times when necessary."
Nicholas Morrey, product technical manager at John Charcoal, agreed a voice activated service could be very popular among brokers as long as the process was secure and freed up time for underwriters to deal with the complex cases not compatible with an automated system.
He said: "As long as lenders do not use voice activated services to cut costs and trim staff, the addition should improve the journey giving underwriters more time to address complex questions with brokers and reducing call waiting times."
rachel.addison@ft.com
