In Partnership with

Embrace AI in mortgages: adapt or be left behind

From boosting efficiency to enhancing customer experiences, AI is no longer optional – it’s essential. Industry leaders on the early adoption of AI

Russell Petty

Grow Mortgage

Industry experts

Jared Stanley

Neighbourhood Holdings

Baber Zaka

Commonwealth Bank Australia

Russell Petty is the owner and a senior mortgage planner at Grow Mortgage. He was an AIME 2023 Visionary and 2024 Scotsman Guide Top Originator; he currently sits on the board of AIME as the director of regional membership. He is an active user and early adopter of AI in the mortgage industry and presented on the topic in front of thousands of brokers at Fuse 2023.

Grow Mortgage

Russell Petty

Entering the mortgage industry in 2008, Jared Stanley navigated a landscape of profound transformations. At Neighbourhood Holdings, he has constantly embraced changes, spearheading the creation of innovative processes and strategies that drove the company to $1.75 billion in volume by June 2023. Embracing advanced technology has been pivotal in Neighbourhood Holdings’ approach. As Stanley has led a team of dedicated professionals, its mantra has emerged: “What gets measured gets managed.” This has driven the company’s success in underwriting complex files, process automation and product development. Committed to elevating the alternative lending industry, the team is setting new standards by leveraging AI and advanced technology.

Neighbourhood Holdings

Jared Stanley

Baber Zaka has worked in the finance industry for 20 years, across both the UK and Australia. For the first 10 years of his career, Zaka worked in mergers and acquisitions in banking; he has spent the last 10 years working in a number of senior roles across CommBank. In 2020, Baber joined the third party banking team to help drive the new and refreshed CommBank strategy for brokers and lead an exciting new partnerships model; he has recently taken over looking after all of the operations and technology teams supporting the broker channel. Zaka is a strong advocate for the importance of transparent communication with brokers, making CommBank’s processes simpler and easier and giving brokers confidence to grow their businesses with CommBank.

Commonwealth Bank Australia

Baber Zaka

“People get so busy thinking about the next best thing, they’re not working on their current business. They must understand where AI is actually going to add value”

Jared Stanley, Neighbourhood Holdings

“JUST USE it, right? I think a lot of people are afraid to use AI; they don’t want to get involved with AI. They perhaps feel it’s so overwhelming. However, if you don’t start using it, you’re not going to get better at it,” says Russell Petty, owner of Grow Mortgage in the United States. Petty isn’t talking just about jumping on a tech bandwagon – he’s pointing to a seismic shift that’s reshaping the mortgage industry. “If you’re not using it in two to three years, it’s going to be the equivalent of still carrying around a beeper or pager,” he warns. This isn’t just hyperbole. Petty firmly believes that AI will change the world more profoundly than electricity or the internet. And he’s not alone. In conversation with MPA, Baber Zaka, Russell Petty and Jared Stanley discuss how, across the globe, mortgage professionals are recognising that artificial intelligence isn’t just the future – it’s the present. The key takeaway? You either adapt or you fall behind.

“They’re not spending millions and millions of dollars into AI because they feel like it might work. They’re spending that because they’re all in on it”

Russell Petty, Grow Mortgage

“What really interests me in the broker space is being able to provide our broker partners with really keen insights into their businesses and the behavioural trends of their customers so that they can grow their businesses with confidence”

Baber Zaka, Commonwealth Bank Australia

Stanley highlights the undeniable appeal of faster service, something that AI can significantly enhance. “Everyone loves faster service,” Stanley says. “If you want your tyres changed, you would love it to be faster. If you get a coffee, you’d love for it to be faster. No one ever says, ‘I want it to be slower, please.’” He emphasises that these efficiencies will inevitably trickle down to customers, resulting in a better overall experience. Stanley mentions a product in the Canadian market called Lender Spotlight, which utilises AI to assist brokers by filtering through 7,000 different policies. “They can actually find exactly what they’re looking for very quickly,” he explains. Stanley recalls, “When I started in the industry, I had big fat binders of policies. You could spend your whole day learning those policies and still not know everything.” The value to consumers is substantial, even if they aren’t always aware of the AI at work behind the scenes.

But the benefits of AI extend beyond mere cost reduction. As Zaka points out, AI has enabled CommBank to offer tailored services like reducing fraud, predicting bills, and forecasting cash flows. These innovations, while driven by AI, are often invisible to the customer, who simply experiences a smoother, more efficient service. “The end customer will not know that all of the potential benefits that they’re getting through their bank is derived or not through AI,” Zaka says. The rapid adoption of AI has raised concerns about ethics, bias and regulation. “Whenever you get a really complex algorithm or some sort of machine learning, you can turn into a black box,” Stanley warns. “If there is a bias in there, you could eliminate people from borrowing that otherwise should have received loans.” The challenges are undeniable, but so are the opportunities. AI has the potential to revolutionise not just the mortgage industry but also the way financial services are delivered globally. As Zaka notes, the key is to “start small” and build from there. “You don’t need to use AI to solve large, complex issues like some of the big organisations are doing ... you need to be comfortable with it so that you’re not behind the curve two to three years down the line.”

The mortgage industry has historically been slow to adopt new technologies, but AI is forcing a rethink. As Petty points out, “AI isn’t just ChatGPT. Canva now has AI; a lot of the services you’re already using are probably implementing AI.” This technology is already embedded in everyday tools, quietly revolutionising processes from origination to customer service. Stanley, senior director of Originations at Neighbourhood Holdings in Canada, agrees. “AI has actually been used for decades in the lending space,” he explains, citing the FICO score developed in the late 1950s as an early example. “If you were to really simplify AI, it’s basically just a computer or program simulating human logic.” Yet, as ubiquitous as AI has become, Stanley notes that many in the industry still don’t fully grasp its potential. He compares it to the early days of the internet when people were just beginning to understand how profoundly it would change their lives.

However, Stanley also cautions against falling into what he describes as “analysis paralysis”. He says, “People get so busy thinking about the next best thing, they’re not working on their current business. They must understand where AI is actually going to add value.” The key, according to Stanley, is to focus on the fundamentals: “Make your 20 calls a day the hard ones; make sure you get those out of the way, then go on to researching different AI or a different technology.”

Zaka says the bank has been leveraging AI in the broker space to not only help deliver faster processing times but also provide its broker partners with deeper customer insights. “What really interests me in the broker space is being able to provide our broker partners with really keen insights into their businesses and the behavioural trends of their customers so that they can grow their businesses with confidence,” Zaka adds. In the United States, Petty sees AI as a tool that will soon be indispensable across all areas of the mortgage process. He says, “In the US, Freddie Mac just released a poll ... it was $11,600 as the cost to originate each mortgage. A lot of companies now have really started diving into using AI to lower that cost.”

Read on

Neighbourhood Holdings, an alternative mortgage lender based in Vancouver, Canada, with national reach, is dedicated to making alternative lending simple, straightforward and transparent. We aim to elevate the alternative lending industry by bridging the gap between prime and private lending. By maximising industry potential and empowering people to reach their financial goals, we strive to provide fair, flexible and transparent mortgage financing solutions. Our commitment to innovation and ethical practices ensures we set new standards in professionalism and service excellence.

Find out more

In Partnership with

From boosting efficiency to enhancing customer experiences, AI is no longer optional – it’s essential. Industry leaders on the early adoption of AI

Read on

Baber Zaka

Commonwealth Bank Australia

Jared Stanley

Neighbourhood Holdings

Russel Petty

Grow Mortgage

Industry experts

Grow Mortgage

Russell Petty

Entering the mortgage industry in 2008, Jared Stanley navigated a landscape of profound transformations. At Neighbourhood Holdings, he has constantly embraced changes, spearheading the creation of innovative processes and strategies that drove the company to $1.75 billion in volume by June 2023. Embracing advanced technology has been pivotal in Neighbourhood Holdings’ approach. As Stanley has led a team of dedicated professionals, its mantra has emerged: “What gets measured gets managed.” This has driven the company’s success in underwriting complex files, process automation, and product development. Committed to elevating the alternative lending industry, the team is setting new standards by leveraging AI and advanced technology.

Neighbourhood Holdings

Jared Stanley

Baber Zaka has worked in the finance industry for 20 years, across both the UK and Australia. For the first 10 years of his career, Zaka worked in mergers and acquisitions in banking; he has spent the last 10 years working in a number of senior roles across CommBank. In 2020, Baber joined the third party banking team to help drive the new and refreshed CommBank strategy for brokers and lead an exciting new partnerships model; he has recently taken over looking after all of the operations and technology teams supporting the broker channel. Zaka is a strong advocate for the importance of transparent communication with brokers and making CommBank’s processes simpler and easier, and giving brokers confidence to grow their businesses with CommBank.

Commonwealth Bank Australia

Baber Zaka

In Partnership with

Embrace AI in mortgages: adapt or be left behind

From boosting efficiency to enhancing customer experiences, AI is no longer optional – it’s essential. Industry leaders on the early adoption of AI

Read on

Baber Zaka

Commonwealth Bank Australia

Jared Stanley

Neighbourhood Holdings

Russell Petty

Grow Mortgage

Industry experts

Baber Zaka has worked in the finance industry for 20 years, across both the UK and Australia. For the first 10 years of his career, Zaka worked in mergers and acquisitions in banking; he has spent the last 10 years working in a number of senior roles across CommBank. In 2020, Baber joined the third party banking team to help drive the new and refreshed CommBank strategy for brokers and lead an exciting new partnerships model; he has recently taken over looking after all of the operations and technology teams supporting the broker channel. Zaka is a strong advocate for the importance of transparent communication with brokers and making CommBank’s processes simpler and easier, and giving brokers confidence to grow their business with CommBank.

Commonwealth Bank Australia

Baber Zaka

Entering the mortgage industry in 2008, Jared Stanley navigated a landscape of profound transformations. At Neighbourhood Holdings, he has constantly embraced changes, spearheading the creation of innovative processes and strategies that drove the company to $1.75 billion in volume by June 2023. Embracing advanced technology has been pivotal in Neighbourhood Holdings’ approach. As Stanley has led a team of dedicated professionals, its mantra has emerged: “What gets measured gets managed.” This has driven the company’s success in underwriting complex files, process automation, and product development. Committed to elevating the alternative lending industry, the team is setting new standards by leveraging AI and advanced technology.

Neighbourhood Holdings

Jared Stanley

Grow Mortgage

Russell Petty

AI: more than just a buzzword

Published 27 Aug 2024

Global perspectives on AI in mortgages

From Australia to North America, mortgage professionals are leveraging AI to solve complex problems and deliver better services. At Commonwealth Bank in Australia, Zaka, chief operating officer, third party banking, shares how the bank has been using AI to deliver better customer outcomes. “We’ve been using AI to reduce our processing times and provide brokers and customers with a faster time to yes,” Zaka says. The aim is to keep the customer at the heart of what they do while enhancing security and efficiency.

The road ahead: phase one of the AI revolution

Petty envisions the AI revolution unfolding in phases. “Phase one is where we are at now, where it’s a new thing, and people are getting used to it and starting to use it,” he says. The next stage will see larger companies rolling out AI-driven innovations that could redefine the industry. “They’re not spending millions and millions of dollars into AI because they feel like it might work. They’re spending that because they’re all in on it.” The future is clear: AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a revolution. And as Petty advises, the best way to navigate it is simple: “Just dig in.”

Commonwealth Bank is one of the leading banks in Australia, serving more than 17 million customers. We focus on providing retail and commercial banking services predominantly in Australia, and in New Zealand through our subsidiary, ASB. Our strategy, to build tomorrow’s bank today for our customers, reflects our commitment to using the strength of CBA to support our customers, invest in our communities, and provide strength and stability for the broader economy. Within third party banking we know brokers deliver exceptional outcomes for customers, which is why we’re focused on delivering simpler, better and easier processes to provide brokers with an enhanced level of support every step of the way.

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Ongoing education

43,000

modules included in the series

collective views the series received in the first three months

22,000

staff at CommBank, who the company is helping to further educate and upskill on AI through a micro-learning series launched in 2024

Crawford’s Commercial Transportation Unit

The supportive role of AI for mortgage brokers

Financial institutions using AI for fraud detection have seen a reduction of up to 40% in fraudulent transactions.

AI can help lenders reduce the cost of loan processing by up to 40% by automating tasks such as data entry and document verification.

Embrace AI in mortgages: adapt or be left behind

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