5 ways the mortgage industry is thinking about artificial intelligence
September 24, 2019 9:50 PM
The nation’s 100 largest companies are leveraging artificial intelligence to radically transform business, and the mortgage industry is aiming for the same.
With the digital mortgage era underway, the industry hopes to utilize AI’s capabilities to facilitate a process that’s better for both borrowers and lenders.
At National Mortgage News’ Digital Mortgage Conference in Las Vegas, KPMG polled attendees to get a better understanding of companies’ pursuits of AI, what challenges its adoption and how much organizations in the mortgage ecosystem plan to spend on the technology next year. Here’s a look at what respondents had to say:
With the digital mortgage era underway, the industry hopes to utilize AI’s capabilities to facilitate a process that’s better for both borrowers and lenders.
At National Mortgage News’ Digital Mortgage Conference in Las Vegas, KPMG polled attendees to get a better understanding of companies’ pursuits of AI, what challenges its adoption and how much organizations in the mortgage ecosystem plan to spend on the technology next year. Here’s a look at what respondents had to say:
AI as a strategic growth imperative
Attendees at the Digital Mortgage Conference shared mixed perspectives from executive management on expectations for artificial intelligence. While most claimed their management team views AI adoption as a strategic growth imperative, many also said it’s seen as an innovation lever to explore and experiment, or a productivity driver for core operations.
Undertaking underwriting
Close to half of respondents at the Digital Mortgage Conference think AI will have the greatest impact on underwriting compared to other segments comprising the mortgage ecosystem. About 24% felt artificial intelligence’s capabilities will be most useful where customer acquisition is concerned, compared to only 4% who named servicing and maintenance and support.
Impediments of adoption
While the mortgage industry sets aim at artificial intelligence to facilitate a better process, its adoption is not without hurdles. Attendees at DigMo cited a variety of constraints as their organization’s greatest challenge in delivering AI capabilities. Technology constraints led by less than a percentage point, followed closely by a lack of financial resources and willingness to invest. Other popular impediments were talent gaps and execution challenges.
Weighing the worth
Because a quarter of attendees pointed to financial resources and willingness to invest as an impediment to AI adoption, it’s not surprising that the majority said they plan to spend under $1 million on AI in 2020. But 20% did report they will invest $1 million to $5 million next year, and 3% even put that figure over $25 million.
Around the bend
While there may be some hurdles to its implementation, the mortgage industry seems fairly optimistic it will feel significant impacts of artificial intelligence relatively soon. With the top answer, nearly 37% of DigMo respondents said AI’s capabilities will be realized within one to two years, though 28% said that timeframe looks more like three to four years. About 20% said significant impacts of AI are being felt now.
