INTERVIEW
Lenders must prepare
Lenders risk being overwhelmed by credit applications when the UK lifts lockdown restrictions, pre- dicts David Wylie.
David Wylie, Commercial Director of the company behind the award-winning automated underwriting platform, ADP, fears a leap in demand for finance when the country returns to more normal conditions. He predicts this to be likely by June or July, if the vaccine rollout allows a reopening of retail activity. What’s more, this substantial increase in applications could continue until the end of the year. Mr Wylie, who was being interviewed by credit risk commentator Chris War- burton on his YouTube channel, said: ‘There’s a big demand bulge that is going to lead to a very, very big bounce back in lender activity. We’re seeing a lot of spending that was suppressed but is not going away – for example on holidays and home improvements. Everyone’s going to want to make up for the months of lockdown, and we expect
people to really double-down on it in 2021.’ 'This is also the impression we're getting from our existing customers but also from new customers that onboard- ed with us in the second half of 2020. They see a significant opportunity where credit will rebound and that has motivated them to update their pro- cesses and automated their decision- ing with us.' Mr Wylie said that demand for credit would be particularly strong at point-of- sale and for specialist finance in areas such as holidays. However, some credit providers may not be ready for such a sudden upsurge in their application pipeline. ‘Lenders might not have the ability to stretch quickly to meet jumps in demand. What we’re concerned about
is that the surge may start from the summer and continue after that, leading to a huge increase in demand that finance providers may not be ready for. They need to be in a position to handle that increased level of business, and I am not sure some of them will be able to, which could lead to some significant problems.’ Mr Wylie suggests that lenders should ensure they do all they can in the run-up to the summer to prepare for the turn- around, prioritising investment in back-office efficiencies and considering automated underwriting decisioning. ‘Now really is the time for providers to test the existing systems that they have in place, to make sure they can cope with a surge in applications. If they can’t, there may still be time to do something about it,’ he added.
10 | Metrics Monthly
Q1 | 2021
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