Commercial loans become digitised

With almost all residential loans now written digitally, NextGen.Net sales director Anthony Carn said that he believes that electronic lodgements of commercial loans will become the “norm” in the next 12 to 18 months.

“We’re in a transition phase, with some people still believing that commercial loans are too complex to digitise. But that attitude is fading fast,” the sales director said.

“In some respects, we’re where we were 15 years ago with residential mortgages and a minority not fully understanding the technology available.”

The ApplyOnline developer noted that the use of electronic commercial loans would reduce the need for lenders to employ extra staff to deal with the paperwork needed for traceability, communication and auditing purposes.

Mr Carn praised National Australia Bank (NAB) for being the first big four bank to implement NextGen.Net’s ApplyOnline e-lodgement solution for commercial loans.

“NAB is demonstrating a clear commitment to the broker channel to offer business finance products in the same streamlined way as residential loans,” Mr Carn said.

The sales director applauded NAB for being the “first to deliver comprehensive digital commercial loan solutions in the lending space”.

“They’ve [NAB] built the infrastructure and framework around accommodating commercial loans for brokers and delivering better turnaround times, reducing reworks, and provid[ing] greater visibility, tracking and back channel messaging,” Mr Carn added.  

[Related: CUA mortgages launch through digital channels]