• The partnership – part of a £5 million investment in Vida’s technology strategy – will see Vida build a new end-to-end mortgage platform with intermediaries at its heart

Vida, the specialist mortgage lender, has today announced a new partnership with Zoot to develop a digitally focused mortgage journey built around intermediaries. Vida will work with Zoot to build a new end-to-end mortgage platform that brings together key parts of the mortgage journey. The partnership, which is a significant part of Vida’s £5 million investment in its technology strategy, is a further sign of the company’s plan to enhance its proposition for intermediaries and accelerate growth.

The new cloud-based platform will allow Vida to create an advanced ecosystem at both the front-end of the business and behind the scenes. Minimising the data input required by intermediaries by accessing open banking and other external data sources will be key to providing greater certainty and speed for advisers and their customers. Vida is also working with Zoot to create a seamless link for other aspects of the mortgage application process, such as conveyancing.

Vida will utilise Zoot’s flexible technology to create a proposition based around augmented underwriting. This means that Vida’s experienced underwriters will harness technology to reach better individual lending decisions on complex cases by efficiently analysing each application on its own merits.

Today’s announcement follows a number of steps that Vida has already made to enhance and improve its processes including new virtual telephony systems to enable Vida’s team to continue supporting intermediaries whilst working from home. A re-design of its website will go live in the next few weeks, focused on improving the intermediary experience.

Anth Mooney, CEO of Vida, commented:

“The COVID-19 crisis has had an unprecedented impact on the mortgage market; at Vida we have taken the opportunity to plan for the future and return to the market with a renewed ambition to change mortgages for good. Through this new partnership with Zoot, Vida is aiming to become a market leader in tech-enabled decisioning and origination so that we can raise the bar for our intermediary partners.

“This is a significant investment for us, and we’ll be working together with Zoot to develop new digitally-enhanced capabilities, built specifically for intermediaries and reflecting the vital role they play in our market.

“Our partnership with Zoot is another important step in our ambition to help the recovery of the mortgage market and support those intermediary partners who have worked so hard to weather the COVID-19 crisis. More customers than ever before will need specialist lenders to find solutions for their own unique circumstances. At Vida we are investing early in that changed landscape so that we can help our intermediary partners to provide that much needed help and advice.”

Adam Jackson, U.K. Managing Director of Zoot, said:

“Vida are an innovative and technology-led lender and we are proud to be helping them revolutionise their services. Mortgage lending is traditionally labour intensive. Zoot’s end-to-end mortgage platform with a truly digital customer journey will be a real game changer for Vida’s partners and their customers. The combination of Vida’s vision and Zoot’s technology will undoubtedly set a new standard within the UK mortgage industry.”