Mortgage brokers have been urged to think like disruptors and challenge the status quo rather than just trying to everything faster.

Speaking on a panel at MIT Live in London yesterday, Mortgage Advice Bureau chief data and information officer Renee Hunt said firms need to think in a radically different way in order to survive against tech challengers who are coming for their share of the market.

She said: “A lot of folks are thinking about AI as, ‘How do I use this to do what I do faster or more efficiently?’ as opposed to, ‘Should I even be doing what I do?’

“What we’ve learned from the early adopters who were further ahead in this game is that where they got true competitive advantage is they totally rethought what they did, as opposed to using AI as a faster form of automation.”

Hunt said established firms should consider how a start-up entering the mortgage market would approach their business differently.

“Every industry that’s been as successful and as long-term as this industry will have people looking at it from the sidelines going, ‘I want to get me some of that.’ So the disruptors will come.”

She said she challenges her own team to consider which existing processes a new competitor might try to cut out altogether.

“What are they not going to do that we rely on as a core capability or a core process? Because therein lies the secret.”

“Pretend it’s personal and they’re coming to eat our lunch. What are they going to do? That allows us to think more creatively about what disruptors do.

“There’s no reason we can’t do that to ourselves, by ourselves, and it’ll keep us always creative.

“Let’s not defend the status quo.”

She added: “Disruptors are good, they are exciting and inspiring. They keep us sharp.”