IF thunders ahead with document management

Online bank Intelligent Finance (IF) has met mortgage regulation compliance deadlines by implementing a document management system which it predicts will pay back tenfold over the next five years.

The driver behind the project was new mortgage regulation introduced late last year around new standard document types, including key facts illustrations and initial disclosure documents, with the idea being that all financial services companies should provide similar documents that can be used for comparisons.

Because mortgages are the leading product the bank sells it was vital that IF was in compliance with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) regulations on time.

The bank invested in online document rendering and repository system from Thunderhead to help with regulatory compliance and create a clear record of the customer contact history.

IF project manager Andrew Fairfield told silicon.com: "The first benefit was that to the schedule set by the FSA: IF was able to render documents that were compliant - which was not the case universally."

He added: "The second element is the ability to maintain and render documents in a high quality management system which will enable us to maintain our business agility in a highly regulated world."

IF has implemented a repository which stores a version of the documents created, said Fairfield, who said the bank is also looking at extending that for a whole range of documents where it is useful.

When contacting a customer via post or online, IF can generate a single document from one template and providing a clear audit path, should a query arise.

Fairfield said the six-month project also created other benefits - such as improved customer experience in terms of the sales process and customers being able to see documents online.

As a result the system could provide a tenfold payback on the project over the next five years: "There's a real benefit to us in terms of automation of our document production and management, and customer experience. You add the whole lot together and that's where the calculation comes from," he said.

The bank is also looking to extend the system to cover ad hoc communications with customers as well.