The Intermediary – July 2025 - Flipbook - Page 76
T E C H N O L O GY
Opinion
AI advice?
Bring it on
T
here’s been a lot of
concern raised recently,
not just within our
industry, but across
the board regarding
artificial intelligence
(AI). It seems the shi has gone from
‘will it take over our jobs?’ to ‘when
will it take over our jobs?’
I’m fully aware that many
individuals will be asking apps like
ChatGPT to answer their mortgage
related questions, or even to steer
them towards a specific lender
or product.
Even a simple Google search no
longer brings up the top websites or
news pages to refer to and look for
an answer to your question – no, it’s
now an ‘AI Overview’ that takes up
the majority of the page. But fear not!
There’s a small print at the boom
that says ‘AI responses may include
mistakes. For financial advice, consult
a professional’. I wonder how many
people are reading that?
What I think this potential AI
overthrow is going to do to the
industry is cause more panic, resulting
in knee-jerk reactions. Will we start
seeing more brokerages adopting an
AI model? We’ll likely see more apps
coming to smartphones where you
can get ‘advice’ in a heartbeat and
choose the product that suits your
specific needs.
Lenders are also trying to adopt it
for faster underwriting – even reading
income documents, bank statements
and, most worryingly, official
identification documents.
So far, I’ve probably sounded fairly
negative regarding AI integration
in the industry, which will seem to
contradict the article title. So, let
me explain.
I actually welcome AI advice.
Brokerages implementing AI to
guide clients – and eventually
provide recommendations – sounds
great. Think of the costs those
brokerages can cut.
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The Intermediary | July 2025
Imagine how many will be doing it!
It’ll become the ‘new normal’.
That right there is why I welcome
it. Let it be the ‘new normal’. Let
brokerages all do the same thing;
implement this tech, sign up with
newly formed tech agencies who
not only charge you thousands for
lead-gen but also want you to upgrade
your tools, customer relationship
management (CRM), back-office,
website – the list goes on. That’s
fine by me.
The reason I welcome it is that
finally the firms that are truly
focused on outstanding client service
– working hard to reach deliverable
solutions, building extensive
knowledge to be able to face any
question with confidence and realworld experience – will then become
the niche.
They will be the ones that get the
clientele who want a service where
they’re not just pushed towards a
lender or a product, but educated
along the way, who want someone
who understands the process and the
fundamentals of why a certain option
is best now and in the future.
Those brokerages will become
fewer. The market will actually
become less saturated, and those who
are le will be distinguished as the
true advisers who want to make a
JONATHAN FOWLER
is founder and managing
director at Fowler Smith
Mortgages & Protection
lasting impression and difference to
every client they speak to.
That is where those brokers will get
true clients for life. They’re unlikely
to have to be haggled on a fee as
they haven’t been undercut by other
brokers who claim they offer the same
service. Now, the service provided by
the firms – and brokers who truly love
what they do – will shine brighter
than ever. The love for advice in the
industry will grow again.
Eventually, we will then see the
importance of human-to-human
liaison in such an important part
of life. People will continue to
recommend human advice to others.
They’ll share the knowledge picked
up by these exceptional firms and
brokerages who care so deeply about
their clients, and eventually, the
demand will rise again.
The knee-jerk reactions will
eventually falter, and true advice will
become the absolute gold standard in
financial services again.
So, yes, AI – bring it on! And, for
the record, this article was wrien
entirely by a human. ●
As AI becomes more integrated, the value of human advice is set to stand apart
