Darlington Building Society extends MSO partnership with finova until 2030

finova, the UK's largest cloud-based mortgage and savings software provider, has today announced that Darlington Building Society (DBS) will extend its contract until 2030 with finova’s MSO loan origination platform.  

DBS initially went live with MSO in 2021, and since then, the software has enabled the building society to maximise efficiencies, reducing average application to offer times by 10 days, whilst continuing to maintain the Society’s personal, common-sense underwriting approach. Following its success with MSO, DBS have entered into an early contract extension with finova, whereby DBS’ new minimum contract now runs until July 2030.  

DBS has seen continued value from the MSO platform. The recent introduction of self-build functionality has supported new business growth, while both broker and digital execution-only rate switch capabilities have improved customer retention rates, with approximately half of all retentions now completed digitally. This has helped DBS maintain an average mortgage retention rate of over 70% in 2024.  Additionally, the MSO platform has enabled DBS to accelerate its mortgage application process; in 2024 the Society completed a mortgage application to offer in just one working day – a timeline that, for DBS, included valuation and full manual underwriting.

According to Smart Money People, brokers rated their experience highly, giving an NPS score of 81.9 in the first half of 2024.  

finova’s MSO platform is trusted by a diverse range of building societies and banks across the UK, helping institutions streamline their mortgage origination processes, improve efficiency and deliver a modern, intuitive customer experience. During the last few years, MSO completed its SaaS transition, with all capabilities now delivered in the cloud, before formally becoming part of a joint entity with finova. As a combined group, finova now supports nearly one in five UK mortgages, processing over £50bn of originations annually.  

Marcus Bennett, Client Delivery Director at finova & MSO, commented:

“After four successful years, we are grateful to have an opportunity to further strengthen our valued partnership with Darlington Building Society. The renewed contract will lay a foundation for further innovation in Darlington Building Society’s services to brokers, improving the user-experience and supporting the building society’s growth strategy. As partners, we share a mutual commitment to push innovation into the market, and our ongoing collaboration will continue to deliver an enhanced service to brokers and customers alike.”

Chris Hunter, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Darlington Building Society added:

“Since we signed contracts for implementation in 2020 Darlington Building Society has always viewed the relationship with the MSO team as true partnership, where we work together for common good. Since go-live, finova’s MSO platform has enabled a tangible improvement in our application to offer times, and a superior service to mortgage brokers as specialist lender. We are always listening to broker feedback, and we know they value the MSO cutting-edge technology alongside the human touch with access to our decision makers the mortgage underwriters. The Society aims to make our processes as streamlined and efficient as possible for our colleagues and our mortgage broker partners – and our renewed contract with finova will allow us to innovate further, enable our product development and meet our growth targets as a business until at least 2030.”