Man vs. Machine – lender edition

Worried a machine will take your job? This picture from The Economist won’t help. But at least it’s funny.

The piece is a good update on the state of machine learning in finance. It focuses mostly on investing and back office components of lending. But automation of lending’s front office components is rapidly advancing too. For now it’s saving front line salespeople countless hours and helping salespeople work with customers more efficiently.

When it comes to mortgage, startup lenders love to say that machines will replace sales teams while software providers build tools to help sales teams. Software providers are more correct in this regard, and startup lenders are learning that sales roles will change and eventually become cheaper but can’t be replaced by machines outright.

That’s why software fintechs are a better bet for investors than lending fintechs right now. If you want to bet on lending as an investor, bet on the incumbents that are making good software decisions.
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Reference:
Machine Learning Promises To Shake Up Large Swathes Of Finance