Wolters Kluwer Lien Solutions highlights automation benefits for lenders

Automating traditionally offline, manual back-office business functions is no longer merely an option, but rather the necessary choice for many financial institutions aiming to survive in the brave new world of virtual, digitized transactions. That’s according to Wolters Kluwer Lien Solutions, writing in a new thought leadership piece.

“Application programming interfaces, or APIs, are one of the pivotal elements in realizing automation, given that API functionality allows computer programs to communicate with each other—without any human intervention needed,” writes Ryan Zheng, Senior Product Manager, Wolters Kluwer Lien Solutions, in an ABA Industry Insights feature, “Lending automation in a post-pandemic world.” “Because machines can ‘talk’ directly to each other via APIs, resources spent toward paper processing or human operation become unnecessary and can instead be reallocated.”

The applicability of API capabilities provides enormous benefits for lenders across a range of areas, including lien management, Zheng argues, given that lien applications are a highly specialized area where each state jurisdiction publishes its own regulations, and thousands of county-level jurisdictions may have different rulings in play if fixture collateral is involved. “A lender can leverage the domain expertise from vendors through API integration to achieve re-usability, scalability and agility at a lower R&D cost,” he concludes.

Zheng notes that shelter-in-place requirements, social distancing measures and other shutdown-related orders during the pandemic altered the way business is conducted. He writes that as in-person branch visits declined precipitously during the pandemic, banks also experienced all-time highs in the number of mobile logins and digital transactions. Automation, he argues, is a key to survival.

“This past year saw unprecedented impact to the financial services industry by way of global shutdowns due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Customer behaviors, corporate decision-making, and the pace of technology advancement all underwent rapid and significant change that has brought with it new business challenges as well as opportunities. However, for many financial institutions, COVID-19 has also unlocked the hidden potential of organizations, removing by necessity many of the traditional barriers that blocked the path to achieving a digital transformation,” Zheng says.

ABA Industry Insights is a repository for industry commentaries, white papers, case studies and other thought leadership on key issues facing the U.S. banking industry.

Wolters Kluwer Lien Solutions, part of the Wolters Kluwer’s Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) division, provides comprehensive lien management, debtor due diligence, monitoring, and risk management solutions to financial professionals—including a comprehensive set of APIs that lenders can use to automate their workflows. Its iLien suite of products provides solutions for asset-backed loan, real-estate and vehicle title processing and management to help reduce complexity in lien lifecycle management and promote more confident lending decisions.

Wolters Kluwer’s GRC division provides an array of expert solutions to help U.S. financial institutions manage regulatory and risk obligations. Lien Solutions’ UCC Manage solution enables lenders to manage and address risks in their entire UCC lien portfolio with analytics, visibility and automation. iLien Motor Vehicle provides for the processing and management of motor vehicle titles and liens, helping solve the unique and most complicated challenges in title perfection. Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions’ eOriginal suite of purpose-built, digital lending solutions, meanwhile, helps lenders digitize their transactions and features electronic signatures, collateral authentication and an electronic vault.