Ultimate Finance

Candles in the dark?

Accelerating technology adoption

Andrew McKee ChiefInformationOfficer Ultimate Finance

Shifting to remote working overnight, completely rethinking business strategy, new business levels slowing and cashflow disruption – there’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging. Whether you’re a lender, a business looking for funding or a broker working hard to arrange it, using technology has become more essential than ever to keep business moving.

At Ultimate, we accelerated the pace of our digital technology roll out during the pandemic, investing in the right areas to ensure our people can maintain our funding support and strong relationships between business owner, advisor, and funder.

So far this year, our digital transformation projects have implemented a range of vital tools that include the use of Open Banking capabilities, biometric ID verification, accounting software integration and online application portals which are all designed to speed up the process of providing funding for new clients and servicing existing funding facilities – let me share a little more about what these capabilities can do.

Biometric ID verification and eSign documents

We use biometric facial recognition technology to speed up the funding application process for clients. The technology verifies identity by cross-matching a photograph taken with a smartphone against a scanned passport, ID card or driving license. By leveraging secure instant messaging and AI to facilitate the process; it’s a faster, better experience for our customers and offers protection against human error that may arise from reviewing physical documents. Combined with electronic signatures, paper-based processes can be entirely eradicated. Essential tools during the pandemic, when people have been working from home and unable to travel – and speed up the process to provide much needed funding to businesses.

Open accounting systems

Removing the need to manually share accounting data, often in printed form, our technology is helping our clients get quick and seamless access to funding. Using an integration platform which can access 80% of accounting software systems provides us with live and accurate financial information without the hassle of downloading financial reports. By using real-time statistics and insights direct from a business’s accounting software, our team have access to the information they need to make fast lending decisions, which complies with the additional data security needed to provide secure remote lending.

Open Banking

Through our partnership with secure instant messaging app Nivo and TrueLayer, our clients never have to share an electronic or paper copy of their bank statements again as we can access the required data direct from their bank account, in real-time. Data is shared safely through the app, removing the risk of information getting lost or ending in anyone else’s hands, and because it’s live information, it helps us to make informed decisions quickly whilst removes the hassle for our clients. “ By leveraging secure instant messaging and AI to facilitate the process; it’s a faster, better experience for our customers and offers protection against human error that may arise from reviewing physical documents

Online application portals for brokers

We’ve made it even easier for our introducers to apply for asset finance on behalf of their clients via our Asset Broker Portal – designed to make working with us as streamlined as possible. There, they can upload new Asset Finance applications, instantly access the status of any existing applications, with previous deals archived for easy reference. The feedback from brokers has been excellent and having this capability has been invaluable when they’ve been working remotely. We are working on the introduction of a similar application portal for our Bridging product this year too.

It is our continued investment in technology that has helped us to adapt, quickly and securely, so we could continue providing our clients and introducers with the seamless, lending processes crucial for supporting the business community throughout the pandemic. We firmly believe that this technology won’t replace the role our people play in building relationships, understanding clients’ needs and solving problems – but it’s making everyone’s lives a lot easier in the process.

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Applicant must be a sole trader or Director of a UK Limited company registered with Companies House that has been actively trading for at least 3 years. You must have a turnover of £50,000 or more and a track record of making profit. The minimum age for applying is 18 years old and you need to be a UK resident and a homeowner. A personal guarantee may be required. Fees apply.

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