The continuous rise in demand for rental properties has led to a massive growth in the proptech industry. This demand has also served as a catalyst for the adoption of technology to automate processes and increase efficiency.

However, while the sector continues to be rife with innovation, most proptech companies face a common problem – the banks they work with lack compatible technology.

INNOVATION

Can banks deliver the innovation that proptech needs? What are the industry pain points and how should forward-thinking banking partners work to address them?

Traditional banks rely on legacy systems and make up for the shortcomings of these systems with a lot of manual processes. This creates a huge mismatch with the highly automated technology used by letting agents.

A common example is providing data on client money accounts by sharing files with proptech companies once a day. This type of data exchange results in a highly manual process to open and review these files daily. New client money accounts will also take weeks to open, an inefficient and costly process for a company needing to open hundreds or even thousands of these accounts.

MISMATCH

Ultimately, the mismatch between the technology used by letting agents and their banking partners hinders efficiency, scalability, and automation in the sector.

Proptech is considered high risk and banks need to effectively assess the risks associated with their customers in the sector.

This includes KYC on individuals, KYB and customer due diligence. Unfortunately, while the expertise and knowledge required for risk management is evident in the professionals most banks employ, it is lacking in their technology and makes it hard to scale.

Risk management in most banks is a heavily manual process and the volumes required in the proptech sector make it even more costly to implement.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Banks need to embed their risk management capabilities and processes into their technology to keep up with the demands of proptech. This means incorporating risk assessment and management functionality into the same platforms that are used for processing payments and opening accounts. While this represents a significant shift from current practices, it is essential to drive efficiency.

There is a knowledge gap in proptech about the banking sector. For example, we’ve seen suggestions that banks should apply simplified due diligence (SDD) when onboarding or assessing risk in proptech.

In reality, it is not that simple. Banks cannot apply SDD to onboard customers classed as high risk. This is just one of the many challenges that exist.

BOLTED ON

Another reality is that new technology cannot just be bolted on. You cannot just take existing systems and say, ‘Hey, we’re just going to improve the integration of this data.’ It requires taking all your processes on board and an end-to-end replacement of technology to address all the gaps. It is a hard process and has to be designed from the bottom up.

Ultimately, when there are challenges in any industry, those involved need to have an open dialogue and try to work together to solve the problems. This is the approach that banks and proptech companies must take. If we are unable to solve the problem in the short term, this continuous, open and honest dialogue will help us find alternative solutions in the long run.

By embracing innovation and collaboration, banking partners and proptech companies can unlock a new era of efficiency, scalability, and mutual benefit.

This will not only streamline operations and reduce costs but also empower proptech companies to deliver enhanced services to their customers.

Adam Moulson (main picture)‍ is Chief Commercial Officer of Griffin