At a recent Sikoia event in London, leaders from Barclays, Nationwide, and Y3S Group joined an open conversation about one of the most pressing challenges facing the mortgage industry: how lenders and brokers can work together to deliver faster, smarter, and more transparent customer journeys.
The discussion quickly revealed something deeper. Technology isn’t the issue - clarity and trust are. As one participant put it, “Even the best tech can’t fix confusion.”
When roles, priorities, or data sources aren’t aligned, everything slows down. Rework increases, margins shrink, and the customer experience suffers. Across the panel, there was consensus that the industry isn’t short of innovation, it’s short of shared confidence.
The group spoke candidly about the ongoing friction between lenders and brokers - often created by the simplest of issues. “It still happens far too often that a customer gets asked for the same information twice,” one panellist admitted.
This duplication is more than a small inefficiency; it’s a symptom of mistrust. Lenders want assurance that the data they receive is accurate. Brokers want to be confident that information shared upstream won’t be lost or misinterpreted. Both sides want to move faster, but that can only happen when data provenance, the ability to see where information comes from and how it’s verified, becomes the norm.
“The tech to solve this already exists,” one attendee said, “but we have to start trusting it.”
That comment captured the shared mood of the discussion. The challenge isn’t building more tools - it’s using the right ones with confidence, ensuring they’re embedded, integrated, and trusted by everyone in the process.
Integration was a major theme throughout the session. Lenders and brokers alike acknowledged that connecting systems, not just within organisations, but across the ecosystem, is the real foundation for collaboration.
“Integration isn’t just a technical problem,” one participant observed. “It’s about agreeing how information flows and who takes ownership of it.”
For brokers like Y3S, who operate at the intersection of customer experience and lender relationships, this trust is central. They emphasised the importance of partnering only with technology providers who demonstrate the same level of rigour as financial institutions themselves.
“We’re big on due diligence,” one representative explained. “We need to know the technology we’re using is accurate, compliant, and robust enough for regulated lending. That’s why our partnership with Sikoia has worked - they passed that test.”
It’s a subtle but important shift in industry thinking: partnerships built on compliance as a shared value, not a checkbox.
The panel also touched on open banking, an area that promises huge potential but still divides opinion. Some lenders remain cautious, concerned about customer understanding and data security.
“The technology is sound,” one panellist noted, “but the way it’s formalised and explained to customers still creates hesitation.” Others agreed, suggesting that open banking could become far more mainstream if positioned around empowerment rather than extraction.
“Customers will share data when they see the benefit - when it’s about speed, accuracy, or access to better deals.”
That point led to a broader conversation about how trust in technology differs across generations. Younger customers, who already live digital-first lives, are more comfortable sharing information, but only when it feels transparent. “They’re used to control,” one speaker said. “They’ll share their data, but they expect to see exactly how it’s used and what they get in return.”
Across the discussion, a clear thread emerged: clarity is the new competitive edge. Teams that align around shared goals, clear ownership, and trusted data move faster and make better decisions. Those that don’t, risk being slowed down by confusion.
“Confusion creates hesitation,” one attendee summed up. “Hesitation adds time. Time adds cost. And cost kills productivity.”
The solution, everyone agreed, lies in trust through verified data, automation that connects rather than replaces, and a culture that embraces ownership and accountability.
As one participant put it, “No tool can replace ownership. Technology works when people do.”
The session ended on an optimistic note. For all the complexity and constraint in today’s mortgage market, there’s clear alignment on where the industry is heading: toward collaboration over competition.
At Sikoia, we’re already seeing how that shift plays out in practice. We work closely with lenders, brokers, and technology partners to make automation trustworthy, not just faster. From document verification and income analysis to data-sharing integrations, every step is built with compliance, provenance, and transparency in mind.
That’s why so many of our partners emphasise due diligence as the foundation of progress. When technology providers meet the same standards of accuracy and accountability as financial institutions themselves, collaboration becomes easier, and innovation becomes safer.
By focusing on verified data, clear ownership, and responsible automation, we’re helping lenders and brokers move from theory to confidence - making it possible to adopt new technology with trust built in from day one.
Or, as one panellist concluded simply:
“The technology is ready. The question is - are we ready to trust it?”
At Sikoia, we’re helping lenders and brokers move from pilots to practical, trusted automation - where compliance, speed, and confidence go hand in hand. Get in touch to learn more here.
Sikoia Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Account Information Service Provider (AISP) under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (FRN: 942979) and as a credit reference provider (FRN: 942616). Sikoia Ltd is a credit broker and not a lender. Credit is subject to status.
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