Our recently launched API integration with NZ Financial Services Group is already boosting efficiency for advisers. Earlier this week, Ian Boyce, our General Manager Property, and Baden Martin, CEO of NZ Financial Services Group, sat down with NZ Adviser to discuss the project, its impact, and how our two companies are making real progress in digital transformation in lending. The following article was originally published by NZ Adviser.
Avanti Finance launched an API integration with New Zealand Financial Services Group (NZFSG) earlier this year. Now several months in, Avanti says it is already delivering measurable efficiency gains for advisers.
The integration connects Avanti and NZFSG’s systems, making the application process smoother for advisers and reducing manual data input.
It automatically pre-populates key customer information into Avanti’s system as applications are submitted through NZFSG’s platform. This is a significant step forward in digitising the non-bank lending process in New Zealand.
Ian Boyce, general manager property at Avanti Finance, said the early results are looking promising.
“NZFSG is around 60% of the mortgage adviser market, so for us to be more efficient in providing our service back to them is really important,” Boyce told NZ Adviser.
“It’s early days, but we’re having to manually key in around 50% less than we did. We’re working on data to see what that means for turnaround times.”
Meeting adviser expectations
NZFSG began engaging with Avanti about potential API integration between their systems in 2024.
NZFSG CEO Baden Martin said Avanti stood out as the right partner for the initiative, thanks to its digital maturity and willingness to commit to the investment.
He said it also enhances NZFSG’s offering to advisers by providing better data security, and more speed.
“It talks to two of the key promises that we make to advisers,” Martin said.
“You’ve got customer data travelling from one secure system to another, and that’s avoiding the use of email where that information can potentially be hacked. Then a lot more information populates automatically into the other core system, which then speeds up the whole application processing time and speed to yes.”
Martin said the feedback from advisers so far has been “fantastic”, particularly as tech investment is front of mind for most advisers today.
Plans for expansion
On Avanti’s side, Boyce said it is looking to potentially expand the integration to other dealer groups too. He notes that API integration is also bound to become the standard for the industry, particularly as the lender space gets more competitive.
For NZFSG, this integration is stage one. The group already integrated with a main bank earlier this year, and Martin said it is open to integrating with other providers too – though he noted that the digital maturity side is important when considering the investment.
“To have integrated with the most significant non-bank provider in this space is really important, because that’s where the majority of the business from our members goes,” Martin said.
“When you engage with suppliers, you can work out quite quickly whose team is ready to go and has the willingness to follow through – because it is a big investment on both sides. It takes a few months, and there’s a lot of people involved to get it up and running. So you do need a sound commitment, and what we’ve found through engaging with Avanti is that the size, scale, infrastructure and willingness to make it through the trials and tribulations that inevitably happen is all there.
“Obviously we’re open to integration with other parties as well, and that’s something we’re looking to in the future.”
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