Vernon Building Society is harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to speed mortgage origination while allowing its human staff to make decisions in more complicated applications.
Through a platform from FintechOS, the 102-year-old mutual society can compete with big mortgage providers on the speed of mortgage processing, while ensuring its people focus on how it differentiates.
The Stockport-based company, which has 25,000 members and total assets of about £534m, specialises in savings and more complex mortgages. The firm is growing, with a 4.6% increase in mortgages on its books, now worth £439.5m, a 5.4% increase in total assets from last year.
“All of our mortgage decisioning is undertaken by humans,” said Vernon CEO Darren Ditchburn.
He said larger mortgage providers have faster processing through “slick technology”, but added: “We help people with more complex or unusual circumstances that need human underwriting.”
The mortgages that Vernon deals with are often less straightforward, such as applications from people with high net worth, retirees and those requiring interest only, and it also funds self-build projects.
But Ditchburn said the company wants to close the gap on the big players in terms of processing speed, and is using AI to achieve its goals. “We’re looking to invest in the technology to effectively take the grit out the wheel and allow our people to concentrate on what we see as the value-add, which is the human element of it,” he said.
“This gives us a modern, flexible mortgage platform that will significantly improve the experience for our members, brokers and colleagues. It allows us to combine the stability of our core banking systems with the innovation needed to support future growth. Most importantly, it helps ensure we continue to provide great service, quicker human decision-making and a more transparent mortgage journey, while remaining true to our mutual purpose.”
FintechOS’s system will run above Vernon’s existing core infrastructure without requiring system replacement. It replaces a front-end online application system and then connects to systems in the processing chain automatically, removing human intervention.
Links in the processing chain that had to be manually triggered include systems for credit searches, instructing valuations, conveyancing and a system for payments.
Before the FinTechOS platform, when a mortgage application was made, data was imported from the front end that captures it, and then manually entered into all the different systems.
“The FinTechOS system brings everything into one ecosystem,” said Ditchburn. “We get data back from all them systems, and then we make decisions.”
The platform also allows teams to design and launch new mortgage propositions using no-code configuration and AI-enabled capabilities.
With just 100 staff, Vernon wants to expand without adding employees. “Efficiency to be able to support our future growth through this modernisation is important for us,” said Ditchburn.
The mutual society also plans on upgrading its core banking system and introducing its first mobile app in the near future.
Vernon’s use of AI is being emulated and encouraged across the mortgage sector.
Separately, in December 2025, as part of its plan to build the “mortgage market of the future”, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) outlined four areas of focus.
One of these, which looks at innovation and disclosure, will increase the use of AI among brokers while preserving humans in the process, according to the FCA. It said it is “encouraging the use of data and technology, such as AI, to help brokers give better and faster advice while keeping a human touch”.
