COSTA MESA, Calif.—A new report based on a survey of hundreds of banks and credit unions confirms how quickly those institutions have moved to expand digital services.
The report from MeridianLink, a provider of software for both financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies, is titled “The Future of Digital Lending” and was authored by Jim Marous, owner and publisher of Digital Banking Report.
According to MeridianLink, the report highlights survey responses from more than 300 financial institutions, including banks and credit unions, on the continuing shift to digital channels as competition for loan customers increases.
The Findings
Among the findings:
- Virtually all (99%) of the participants are making their loan applications available online this year, up from 85% in 2020.
- More than half (54%) are offering mobile loan applications, up from 44% in 2020 and 34% in 2019.
- 45% say their online application processes can be completed in less than five minutes (compared to 15% in 2020), and half (50%) of institutions say their mobile application processes can also be completed in less than five minutes (compared to 20% in 2020).
- More than half (57%) of financial institutions say that they have loan customer onboarding processes, compared to only 45% in 2020. However, the number of organizations stating that they're building an onboarding program in the next year dropped from 30% in 2020 to 16% this year.
- When asked what stands in the way of primary onboarding, the financial institutions cite cost, complexity and to a degree staffing.
“While we saw major improvements in digital lending throughout the pandemic, survey results indicate that financial institutions still need to improve their digital loan application and new account opening processes to offer the convenience and simplicity that consumers have come to expect in the digital age,” said Chris Maloof, chief product officer of MeridianLink.
MeridianLink said a complimentary download is available at https://meridianlink.me/3BsdZVf.