I think where AI excels is in trying to emulate what could be a human interaction.

And, by definition, what we do, and specifically do for mortgages, is dominated by human interaction. Across the world - so we're talking not only about emerging markets, but developed markets as well.

You have mortgage brokers that talk to customers. They do simulations. They explain what the bank offers that they can get approved for, and so on and so forth.

So I think the real need here was how do you bring that human experience into a place where you have thousands of islands and very remote locations and where the people buying properties are not necessarily concentrated around the large cities.

Smarter advice leads to smoother lending, so today I am sitting down with James Tucker, CEO at Twenty7tec Group, talking about how his solutions, helps lenders maximise product visibility, streamline applications, and improve adviser engagement.

If you want to have a relationship with someone for 30 years, well, what do you need to do? You’ve get to know them.

These days in Australia, no one buys their first home and lives in it for 30 years. It's a stepping stone for future goals. You know, someone wants to expand their business or buy an investment property. It's not just like, cool, here it is. It's like, Well, okay, we could go down scenario one, this is what it looks like. There's pros and cons to that, or we go scenario two. Now it's going to cost you more here, but it's better off there. People are to just, you know, bounce, bounce those conversations off someone.

Digital marketing was not really a thing. It started by just going out and networking, listening to people, asking them what worked, what didn't work, you know, ringing up estate agents saying, look, I'd love to do your mortgages and walking up and down the high street with my briefcase, really. I just recently went with my cousin who works for Virgin Atlantic on a trip to Austin, and I ended up doing both of the pilots mortgages!

Like all businesses, it's about understanding the customer's needs, their pain points, and trying to work out where we can stand out and make a difference and have an incredible customer experience and good customer outcomes where others can't.