“KYC requires a very in-depth review,” she says, noting that structures vary for every deal.  “You can set up a ‘room’ for everything to be saved into, but I don’t think that can be automated.”

She added that assessing a QS report on how a scheme is going to be built should also be manual.  “When you’re reviewing a QS report, it’s not just simply numbers — it’s the end spec and the build method that is going to be utilised for the duration. 

“There are so many different factors that I don’t think that process can be automated either.” 

Ashley Ilsen, CEO at Magnet Capital, agreed, stating that while extracting information can be done via software to be more streamlined, decision making needs a human to review and understand the risk.  “Sadly, there’s no such thing as a completely clean development deal; there will always be something — whether it’s a title issue, a dispute over the land, or the method of building.” 

Last week’s discussion was chaired by Medianett editor Beth Fisher, who was also joined by Mark Elliott, business development manager at APAK; Adele Turton, managing director at Blanc Property Finance; Natasha Yea, director at Next Route Finance; and Katy Katani, associate director at CapitalRise.

•   A broker's trusted track record with a developer can lead to more 'bullish' terms
•   'Developers who have the backing of lenders and financial advisers have a distinct competitive advantage'
•   There will be a growing demand for lower-cost PBSA, but not lower spec, predicts Unipol CEO

When looking at what parts of the development finance process desperately need improvement through technology, Katy pointed to third-party professionals adapting to change.   

“Historically, this industry has been quite old fashioned,” she commented, urging more lawyers to adopt DocuSign. “We don’t necessarily have to print 300 pages of a document for it to be witnessed and signed by the client. It can be done within a couple of minutes.” 

Emma agreed: “It amazes me that it’s only now that we’re grasping DocuSign. Why didn’t this happen years ago?” 

Adele said that she had been using it for years, but many lenders still won’t accept it. “For simple terms, there’s no reason [not to]; it’s literally back within seconds.” 

Mark said that some of this transformation has been forced as a result of the pandemic and has “accelerated some change that people were reluctant to adopt for no other reason than cultural”.

In response to a question from Mark with regard to whether there was enough visibility around how a deal was progressing during the underwriting stage, Natasha noted that there wasn’t much in place for brokers who find themselves constantly chasing lenders and communicating back to the client. She thinks an “elaborated CRM” system that packages up all their clients with all the stages they are at would be helpful. 

The full roundtable can be viewed below.