finova launches new decisioning engine Optimo to revolutionise pricing strategy

Optimo, a decisioning engine that is purpose-built to help lenders deliver agile, data-driven and personalised outcomes for their customers, has today been launched by UK mortgage technology provider, finova.

With lenders increasingly having to configure pricing changes at pace, Optimo’s flexible system allows them to calculate personalised decisions based on an applicant's personal, medical, financial, and property information. The tool integrates affordability models, scorecards, and pricing into one seamless decisioning product. As a result, Optimo reduces a product’s speed to market from an average of 7 to 10 days to a matter of hours.

Built using finova’s market leading Apprivo² technology, Optimo is a fully configurable Software as a Service (SaaS) tool and slots into any existing originations system. While many mortgage products assess affordability based solely on loan-to-value ratios (LTV), Optimo takes a distinctly holistic approach by evaluating affordability on a case-by-case basis, considering multiple factors.  

In the past, lenders have faced operational challenges when relying on generic affordability calculations and rate cards to determine suitable rates to offer borrowers. Optimo remedies this by enabling lenders to evolve their pricing strategy, benefitting from data-driven and risk-based pricing that can service quicker price changes.  

With Optimo, lenders can also generate accurate scorecards, allowing them to cater to customers whose financial profile – such as being self-employed – may have previously affected their ability to secure a loan. As a result, Optimo can open up new lending opportunities and also reduce the number of variant rate cards, so the final decision is driven by the customer’s actual risk.  

Another key feature of the new engine is its ability to react to market changes with speed, meaning products can be accurately repriced within a matter of hours. Optimo also opens the opportunity for lenders to provide ‘always on’ pricing that reduces the impact of last-minute price changes on brokers, thereby safeguarding clients and their mortgage applications.

To learn more about how Optimo can change your business and to book a demo, please click here.  

Chris Little, Chief Revenue Officer at finova, comments:

“Whenever a customer applies for a mortgage or a loan, the lender must make several rapid decisions about risk, liability, and affordability. In the past, lenders have shouldered significant risks when using traditional rate models, and this has sometimes led to financial losses and dissatisfied customers. Optimo, our new decisioning engine, is designed to revolutionise the process, protecting our lender partners from risk while ensuring borrowers can access the most personalised and fair rates on the market. In a fast-moving environment, innovative tech like Optimo is key to ensuring financial institutions can service customers quickly and fairly – and finova is leading the charge.”

Rowan Clayton, Product Director at finova, added:

“At a time when rates are shifting and changing faster than many legacy systems can manage, Optimo offers a seamless SaaS solution that works out of the box and can slot into a lender’s existing originations systems with ease. Built on the foundation of Apprivo², Optimo powers faster and more tailored decisions. Our hope is that the days of sluggish product launches and ‘one-size-fits-all’ products are over and that lenders who integrate Optimo can evolve their offerings with dynamic risk pricing and data-rich affordability models that not only reduce their risk but also enable them to underwrite loans for an even wider range of customers.”