Suncorp Bank Executive Manager Mortgage Services Stuart Nielsen, led the digital D-Day celebrations at the Bank’s Brisbane offices when the new all-digital workflow was implemented. To mark the occasion, all staff joined in a paper plane flying competition, helping to fill the 48 large orange bins rolled in for the great paper cleanout.

Desks now look clean and uncluttered and a 12m long filing compactus has been sent to the record-keeping graveyard, after a $1.5 million Kofax capture, OCR and workflow solution transformed mortgage processing operations at Australia’s leading regional bank, Suncorp.

The financial giant chose to tackle one of its most complex business processes by adopting a digital capture platform in 2011, along with a brand new FileNet ECM rollout and integrated Business Process Management. The application went live in November 2011 to capture information from loan applications and assign it to a paperless FileNet-based workflow.

The digital transition will remove the need for as many as 5000 paper files to be handled by the loan processing team at any one time.

In addition to speeding up mortgage processing for customers, the digitisation program will save Suncorp hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in paper, printers and toners. The green benefits will also be considerable, with an estimated 400-plus trees to be spared the woodsman’s axe each year, and the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere reduced by around 80 tonnes.

One of the primary goals for the product was to cut between 20-30% out of the processing time of an average loan application to final approval.  Increased performance in turnaround times for loan decisions is a key customer proposition as part of any lending transaction.  The new SUN Link system has delivered benefits already, with loan processing times reducing by 10%, with further benefits still to be realised as recognition rates continue to improve.

A faster home loan decision gives consumers confidence and peace of mind that the home loan is approved and their dream home or investment property will now become a reality.

Suncorp Bank Executive Manager Mortgage Services Stuart Nielsen, led the digital D-Day celebrations at the Bank’s Brisbane offices when the new all-digital workflow was implemented. To mark the occasion, all staff joined in a paper plane flying competition, helping to fill the 48 large orange bins rolled in for the great paper cleanout.

Before the Kofax solution was deployed, Suncorp Bank’s mortgage processing workflow called for three separate versions of every loan file to be dealt with. Loan applications received from branches and mortgage brokers were processed as paper files, after the data was manually entered into the bank’s core system, SUN Loans. In addition to the file in the core banking system, another electronic “workflow” version was created in the bank’s manual tracking system.
This manual tracking system was updated by each processor as the physical loan file, and core system workflow moved from team to team throughout the end-to-end process.

Suncorp Bank’s mortgage processing team began exploring alternatives to its manual processes in 2010.

“We were looking at ways to improve our processes and turnaround times for customers, and decided to automate things and work a little smarter,” said Nielsen.

“We were sending tens of thousands of files a year to an external storage provider, and the difficulty of retrieving files from off-site, and within our offices, was frustrating.”

Initially the aim was just to go paperless; however after talking further with Kofax and IBM the aims were broadened to embrace an all-digital workflow.

“We saw we could use the capabilities of Kofax for OCR; not just to image the file and categorise it, as some of our competitors do, but also to route the file. There’s quite a clever workflow engine at the back-end of this platform.

“The goal was to have one file and no paper.”

Loan applications and supporting documents are now ingested via fax or as email attachments sent from the branches and brokers. Scanning is done there, where in the case of the Suncorp Bank branches a fleet of over 200 Lexmark multifunction devices are configured with a scan to Kofax button.

The loan application data is either entered manually into the core banking system or transferred via electronic lodgement. There are many supporting documents such as bank and credit card statements, tax returns, income validation. These documents are all imaged and categorised with the help of OCR.

“Part of the challenge in deploying an automated solution such as this is the fear of getting rid of the physical file. Removing or changing such a long-standing  and critical element of a business process can be difficult for any organisation to deal with. That is why we did things like the plane throwing contest;  it helps people talk about the change and digest it in a non-confrontational way.  It’s important to remember that some staff had been assessing physical mortgage files for more than 20 years, so it was a significant change for them to adapt to.”

“The mortgage processing platform is the first large scale imaging project undertaken at Suncorp Bank, and has resulted in our imaging system being among the best, if not the best, in the Australian market,” said Nielsen.

“One of our goals is to get the level of document recognition up to our target of being 80 per cent automated and we’re well on our way to achieving this, despite having only launched the workflow engine a mere six months ago.

“It’s really exciting to work with a piece of  technology that is so intuitive, providing us scope for further improvements and the ability to teach it new things.”

FileNet is used to store the scanned images and manage workflow using its rules engine. Suncorp developers adapted the application and gave it a skin to resemble the Bank’s core lending system, so staff can use a seamless application between the core lending system and the Kofax/FileNet platform.

“Users are essentially using the one application despite there being multiple facets. SUNLink is what we call the solution, and Kofax is part of that,” said Nielsen.

“Data contained in the loan application is used by the rules engine in FileNet to determine what type of application is being made, the loan amount and the level of complexity, which is then used to allocate the task to the right individual.

“Behind the rules engine is a skills matrix that is used to identify the piece of work, allocate it to the most suitable people in the business for processing.

“It’s a push workflow and much of the intelligence comes out of the elements of the capture.

“It's all very well to extract the information from what is a very complex transaction, but if you don’t know how to use that information it’s difficult to realise the benefit.

“The integration with FileNet enabled us to use the information that we extract in an intelligent way, something that is crucial with a complex transaction like a mortgage.

“The automated workflow also provides greater flexibility for staff, with the digital platform allowing some the option to work from home while processing until 10pm each night. The mortgage applications can be processed and validated from anywhere in the world.” 

Capturing with Kofax

The capture platform employs a full suite of Kofax solutions, including Kofax Capture KTM, VRS and Enterprise Monitor.  There are plans to deploy the Kofax Communications Server over the next few months to allow outbound SMS and email to be used to deliver confirmation and acceptance to brokers and internal lenders. KFS Front office server is deployed on Suncorp’s MFPs for ad hoc transactions.

“Due to the complex nature of processing mortgages, they are often the hardest to automate, but we chose to tackle them first, putting us in good stead for  less complex transactions to follow, such as a deposit for example,” said Nielsen.

“In addition to removing paper and improving processing speeds, this system gives us better capabilities around fraud detection and file quality.

“No longer do we have to order files back from a physical storage facility, they are now instantly available online, with a full user audit trail, adding to the security of the transaction. Our fraud and quality assurance teams have faster, more user-friendly access, including remote access,  to the loan files, improving our ability to detect irregularities in loan applications and in turn our Quality Assurance.”

The project was delivered in a joint collaboration between the business owners in Suncorp Mortgage Services and the Enterprise Applications team from the Suncorp Group’s Business Technology division. Working closely in conjunction with Kofax and IBM, the Suncorp team delivered the solution in just over 12 months. The rules that so cleverly rout the workflow were developed in a joint effort from business owners, process specialists and solutions experts who could determine the feasibility of the design. The Kofax capture platform has now spread within Suncorp for HR applications, personal insurance, commercial insurance and accounts payable.