Homebuyers, Owners, & Renters
      
      Homebuyers, Owners, and Renters

          
                        Business Partners
                  Single-Family Business

Helping lenders serve homebuyers and homeowners with affordable mortgages
    
          Multifamily Business

Financing for quality, affordable rental housing in every market, every day
    
          Capital Markets

Reducing risk and enhancing housing finance liquidity
          About Us
                toggle
                Who We Are
                                              toggle
                        Awards and Recognition
                                                      Diversity and Inclusion
                                                              toggle
                                Employee Resource Groups
                                                                      Progress With Purpose
                                                      Employee Code of Conduct
                                                      Community Engagement
                                                      History
                                      What We Do
                                              toggle
                        Duty to Serve
                                                              toggle
                                Manufactured Housing
                                                                      Affordable Housing Preservation
                                                                      Rural Housing
                                                                      Research Initiatives
                                                                      Colonias Investment Areas
                                                      Homeownership
                                                              toggle
                                Access to Mortgage Credit
                                                                      Restrictive Covenants
                                                      Innovation
                                                      Mortgage Finance in America
                                                      Financial Performance
                                                      Disaster Resiliency and Relief
                                                      Pilot Transparency
                                      Leadership Team
                                      Corporate Governance
                                              toggle
                        Corporate Governance Guidelines
                                                      Fannie Mae Charter
                                                      Board of Directors
                                                      Committees
                                                      Committee Charters
                                                      Code of Conduct
                                                      Bylaws
                                                      Contacting the Board of Directors
                                                      Housing Reports
                                      Investor Relations
                                              toggle
                        Quarterly and Annual Results
                                                      Annual Reports
                                                      SEC Filings
                                                              toggle
                                All SEC Filings
                                                                      Annual Filings
                                                                      Quarterly Filings
                                                                      Current Reports
                                                                      Section 16 Filings
                                                                      Proxy Filings
                                                      Additional Disclosures
                                                              toggle
                                Monthly Summary
                                                                      Capital Disclosures
                                                      Stock Information
                                                      Current Stock Information
                                                      Contact Information
                                      ESG
                                              toggle
                        Learn about our business
                                                      Environmental
                                                      Social
                                                              toggle
                                Equitable Housing Finance Plan
                                                      Governance
                                                      Sustainable Bonds
                                                              toggle
                                Green Bonds
                                                                      Social Bonds
                                                      Reports & Disclosures
                                                              toggle
                                2021 ESG Report
                                      Research & Insights
                                              toggle
                        Forecast
                                                              toggle
                                Monthly Archive
                                                                      Weekly Archive
                                                      Surveys & Indices
                                                              toggle
                                National Housing Survey
                                                                      Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey
                                                                      Fannie Mae Home Price Index
                                                                      Refinance Application-Level Index
                                                                      Special Topics
                                                      Publications
                                                              toggle
                                Fannie Mae Working Papers
                                                                      Housing Insights
                                                                      Partner Research
                                                                      Publications Archive
                                                      Perspectives
                                                              toggle
                                Archive - 2020
                                                                      Archive - 2021
                                                                      Archive - 2022
                                                                      Archive - 2023
                                      Newsroom
                                              toggle
                        News
                                                      Media Resources
          
                        Careers
                toggle
                Our Teams
                                              toggle
                        Corporate Teams
                                                      Data & Analytics
                                                      Digital & Technology
                                                      Mortgage & Customer Solutions
                                                      Risk Management
                                      Life at Fannie Mae
                                      Diversity & Inclusion
                                      Benefits & Professional Development
                                      Campus
          
                        Contact Us
                      
            Google Translate Disclaimer
            The Google Translate feature is a third-party service that is available for informational purposes only. Fannie Mae is unable to guarantee the accuracy of any translation resulting from the tool and is not responsible for any event or damage that occurs as a result of using the translations generated by the Google Translate feature.
            OK
  Translate
        Translation Disclaimer
          Chinese, Traditional
            English
            Filipino
            Korean
            Spanish
            Vietnamese
 FM Site Nav
  

        

Homepage
                    
      Fannie Mae logo
    Toggle navigation
      Rent
                
                All Renter Resources
                                      The Rental Process
                                      Make Your Rent Count
                                      Credit Basics
                      
            Buy
                
                All Homebuyer Resources
                                      7 Steps to Homeownership
                                      HomeView Homeownership Education Course
                      
            Own
                
                All Homeowner Resources
                                      Make the Most of Your Home
                                      Refinancing Your Mortgage
                                      When It’s Time to Sell
                      
            Get Relief
                  Manage Financial Uncertainty

All Resources to Manage Financial Uncertainty

Help for Homeowners

Help for Renters

Protect Yourself from Fraud
    
          Recover from a Disaster

All Resources for Recovering from a Disaster

Recovery Assistance for Homeowners

Recovery Assistance for Renters

Protect Yourself from Fraud
                      
            Calculators & Tools
                
                All Calculators & Tools
                                      Tools for Renters
                                      Tools for Homebuyers
                                      Tools for Homeowners
                                      HomeView® Homeownership Education Course
                                      Glossary
                                      Mobile AppToggle search
 Skip to main content
          
    
    Home
                        Research and Insights
                        Perspectives
                        Impact of Digital Innovation on Lender Workforce, Now and Looking Forward
    Perspectives Blog
Impact of Digital Innovation on Lender Workforce, Now and Looking Forward
May 13, 2020
Andrew Peters Headshot
    Andrew Peters
    Vice President, Single-Family Strategy & Insights
More than ever we're seeing how critical technology is to keeping our nation's mortgage ecosystem safely operating. According to Fannie Mae's Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey®, which surveyed nearly 200 senior executives in the first quarter, lenders who invested "a great deal of effort" in digital transformation reported more benefits, including an uptick in productivity, compared to other lenders. The survey was conducted prior to the swift and unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on society and the economy, and as a result we believe the survey results likely understate the benefits of digital transformation.

Forty-eight percent of lenders reported putting significant effort into both their front-end and back-end digital transformation. These lenders were more likely to: 1) report significant changes to their workforce; and 2) expect loan officers' and underwriters' roles to expand in the near future as their roles become increasingly digital. The same lenders also reported attracting more borrowers and having a lower workforce turnover rate.

Even before the pandemic, an overwhelming majority of lenders (91 percent) said they expect the scope and structure of their workforce to change over the next 2-3 years. Lenders pointed to a trend in which loan officers are moving past simply reviewing borrowers' qualifications to spending more time with customers. For underwriters, lenders see the potential of using automated data extraction to allow them to more quickly examine a potential borrower's entire credit profile, with their role expanded to include a focus on process or compliance. Other lenders are shifting their initial underwriting review to take place immediately after application – before processors even begin working on the loan.

As seen in the chart below, lenders who put a "great deal of effort" into both front-end and back-end digital transformation believe they generate significant competitive advantages compared to other surveyed 1 lenders, including increased productivity, reduced errors, lower turnover rates, and lower costs.

Digital Transformation Benefits Experienced by Lenders

At the same time, role division appears to be less rigid as investment in digital transformation continues. Cross-functional capabilities have been shown to help build employee motivation and reduce staff turnover rate. It may also provide a company with greater staffing flexibility, leading to operational improvements. 2 Though the share of personnel cost to total origination cost has remained over 60 percent over the past decade 3, 81 percent of lenders said they do not believe that it would be beneficial for the mortgage industry to outsource loan origination. As the industry continues to evolve, it is critical for lenders to think strategically about their workforce management practices, including skills, structure, and training, to ensure that staff adapt well to future role changes and deliver new efficiencies. This will be particularly important to help lenders remain competitive as industry-disrupting firms emerge, bringing with them new competitive advantages associated with the re-engineering of past processes and workforce roles.

To learn more, read our Fannie Mae Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey Special Topic Report, "Impact of Digital Innovation on Lender Workforce Management."

Andrew Peters**VP, Single-Family Strategy & Insights**

*May 13, 2020*

*The author thanks Ahmet Hacikura at Oliver Wyman, Colette Porter, Shane Hartzler, Dana Schlafman, Steve Deggendorf, Elizabeth McGaha, and Li-Ning Huang for valuable contributions in the creation of this commentary and the design of the research. Of course, all errors and omissions remain the responsibility of the author.*

*Opinions, analyses, estimates, forecasts and other views reflected in this commentary should not be construed as indicating Fannie Mae's business prospects or expected results, are based on a number of assumptions, and are subject to change without notice. How this information affects Fannie Mae will depend on many factors. Changes in the assumptions or the information underlying these views could produce materially different results.*

1 To examine the impact of lenders' digital transformation efforts on workforce management issues, this study examines the differences between lenders who reported investing "a great deal of effort" in **both** the front-end consumer borrower experience and the back-end operational efficiency (88 lenders, 48% of the survey sample) versus all other lenders in the sample (95 lenders, 52%).

2 Examples include: "Rewriting the rules for the digital age: 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends, Deloitte, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/lu/Documents/human-capital/lu-hc-2017-global-human-capital-trends-gx.pdf
"Develop Your Company’s Cross-Functional Capabilities," Harvard Business Review, by Paul Leinwand, Cesare Mainardi, and Art Kleiner, February 02, 2016, https://hbr.org/2016/02/develop-your-companys-cross-functional-capabilities

3 The share of personnel cost to total expenses ranges from 62% in 2011 to 67% in 2019, based on data from Mortgage Bankers Association Quarterly Performance Report, https://www.mba.org/news-research-and-resources/research-and-economics/single-family-research/mortgage-bankers-performance-reports-quarterly-and-annual

TOPICS
  
Fannie Mae Corporate
  
  
      Twitter
              Facebook
              Linkedin
              Email
Research and Insights
                                                              Forecast
                                    Surveys & Indices
                                    Publications
                                    Perspectives
                                                              Archive - 2024
                                    Archive - 2023
                                    Archive - 2022
                                    Archive - 2021

Full Page Infographic

MLSS Special Topic Report

Our Company
    About Us
      Contact Us
      Careers
      Investor Relations
      Newsroom
      Research & Insights
      ESG
  Business Partners
    Single-Family Business
      Multifamily Business
      Capital Markets
	      Suppliers
      Developer Portal
  Homebuyers, Owners, & Renters
    Educational Resources
      Credit Basics
      HomeView Homeownership Education Course
      HomePath - Search for Homes
      Make Your Rent CountCalculators & Tools
      All Calculators and Tools      Glossary of Key Terms
      Mortgage Calculator
      Down Payment Assistance Search Tool
      Mobile AppLet Us Help You
      Contact a Housing Counselor
      Manage Financial Uncertainty
      Recover from a Disaster
    
    
  

      
Social media
  

        
            Follow us
          Follow us
          Facebook
          Twitter
          LinkedIn
          Instagram
    Footer
  

        
            Legal
          Privacy
          Digital Accessibility
                Cookie Preferences
            © 2024 Fannie Mae