LoanOptions.ai and Lend are teaming up in an effort to help brokers stay competitive amid an increasingly tech-driven lending market.
On Tuesday, the two Australian fintech firms revealed that Lend, a workflow and CRM platform for brokers, had integrated asset-based brokerage and fintech firm LoanOptions' full product suite onto its website. The collaboration is meant to streamline operations, reduce manual processing times and provide a better user experience, the duo said.
"This collaboration is a great demonstration of how two innovation-focused companies can join forces to eliminate the manual friction and lack of transparency that has historically slowed down the lending process," said Julian Fayad, founder and chief executive officer of LoanOptions. "By integrating our technology into the Lend CRM, we are putting sophisticated, time-saving tools into the hands of brokers who are ready to future-proof their operations. It’s a significant move toward a more efficient, tech-led industry for everyone involved.”
Andrew Beckett, head of broker and third party distribution at Lend (pictured above right), added: "By embedding these AI-native tools into our platform, we’re enabling our members to scale more efficiently and deliver the modern, seamless experience today’s clients expect.”
LoanOptions' AI tools are now directly embedded into Lend’s CRM, allowing brokers to access loan matching, approval prediction and digital application capabilities without leaving their core workflow system.
The first phase of the roll-out — the integration of LoanOptions' mobile-first, digital platform Ailo — is now live. The technology includes a roughly five-minute application process where brokers upload a borrower's ID and payslips, as well as connecting to their bank account. Artificial intelligence does the rest. Ailo — similar to LoanOptions' inaugural "Hailo" technology — can predict the likelihood of a loan approval among more than 90 lenders within minutes. Except Ailo is set for asset finance loans, such as car and personal loans. In addition, applying through the system does not impact the borrowers' credit score, the companies said.
The LoanOptions-Lend alliance is another sign of growing competition among broker technology providers, as digital expectations rise and AI adoption accelerates across financial services. Brokers who know how to harness AI effectively stand to win.
Although Sydney-based Fayad — a former broker who founded LoanOptions in 2020 — said it's not always straightforward.
"With all the recent noise and hype around AI, brokers are really struggling to understand how to filter through what's signal and what's noise," he told Australian Broker.
"We're bringing innovation to a lagging industry," he added. "Our vision is quite big. We want to change the whole entire [loan] industry and the way that people transact with brokers."
