Commonwealth Bank-owned Bankwest is the latest lender to announce that it has slashed service times for mortgages in a bid to gain new customers and is using e-signatures to do so.
According to the bank, lending times have become an issue for regulators who are facing scrutiny over the length of time it takes to get a mortgage approved.
Bankwest’s executive general manager of customer experience, Andrew Chanmugam, said new digital signing technology will help brokers deliver better and faster services.
“Currently, it takes around 13 days for a new home loan to be ready for settlement, but with digital signing, this can be reduced to less than four working days for new home loans and to within 24 hours for increases to existing loans,” he explained.
For Bankwest’s head of third party banking, Ian Rakhit, broker feedback has played an important part in developing the bank’s innovation in the area, which has had the effect of offering brokers greater visibility of the home loan process.
“In addition to the faster turnaround time, the new secure service maintains an electronic audit trail – a key request from brokers – and allows for faster amendments if any errors are found,” Mr Rakhit continued.
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