• Customer verification automation company Sikoia partnered with brokerage Simple Financial Planning (Simple).
• Integrating Sikoia’s technology will enable Simple to automate broker workflows, saving time, boosting accuracy, and enhancing compliance.
• London-based Sikoia made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024.

One month after announcing its partnership with Tandem Bank, customer verification automation company Sikoia reports that it is working with Simple Financial Planning (Simple) to bring AI-driven automation to broker workflows. Simple will embed Sikoia’s document processing technology into its CRM platform to save time, boost accuracy, and enhance compliance.

“Together, we’re not just enhancing accuracy and compliance; we’re enabling Simple’s advisors to spend less time on admin and more time delivering value to their clients,” Sikoia Founder and CEO Alexis Rog said. “This collaboration represents a shared ambition to streamline processes, support growth, and provide brokers with tools that make a tangible difference in their day-to-day operations.”

The integration will enable Simple to access verified data in minutes, reducing administrative workloads while enabling the company to scale effectively without compromising service quality. In addition to automating manual tasks such as document verification and data extraction, Sikoia’s technology leverages AI to ensure accurate data handling and automates AML checks to assist brokers in meeting regulatory requirements.

“By integrating (Sikoia’s) solutions, our brokers can onboard clients faster and more confidently while maintaining seamless, compliant workflows,” Simple Underwriter Pamela Stewart said. “Sikoia’s expertise is setting a new benchmark in the industry, and we’re proud to work together to help our brokers excel.”

Authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Simple is a financial advisory firm that provides tailored advice and solutions for its clients. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Glasgow, Simple offers professional money planners who provide advice and guidance on mortgages, insurance, savings, and investments. Alex McGarvey is Managing Director.

In its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024, Sikoia demoed its AI-powered customer application processing solution that provides automated verification for income, employment, affordability, and more. The technology automates customer application document checks, accelerating verification times, reducing document handling costs, and improving the overall customer experience. Headquartered in London, Sikoia was founded in 2021.

In addition to its partnership with Tandem Bank mentioned above, Sikoia last month announced that it was collaborating with specialist loan brokerage Y3S to enhance the customer verification process for brokers and borrowers. Integrating with Sikoia will enable Y3S to streamline multiple tasks, including biometric identity verification (IDV) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks. Y3S will also benefit from automated processing of key mortgage application documents.

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• Customer verification specialist Sikoia announced a strategic partnership with Tandem Bank.
• The partnership will enable the digital bank to automate key parts of its income verification and document handling processes for mortgage brokers.
• Founded in 2021, Sikoia made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope 2024.

London-based customer verification specialist Sikoia has sealed a strategic partnership deal with Tandem Bank. The partnership will enable the financial institution to automate specific parts of its income verification and document handling processes to boost efficiency for mortgage brokers.

“Our partnership with Tandem Bank marks a key milestone in transforming income verification and document processing for the mortgage industry,” Sikoia Founder and CEO Alexis Rog said. “This collaboration aims to eliminate administrative burdens, ensure consistent and auditable decision-making, and ultimately enhance the customer experience.”

Sikoia’s AI-powered Income and Employer Verification solution helps financial institutions avoid a typically manual, error-prone process that takes lenders an average of 30 minutes per application. Instead, Sikoia’s automated technology offers rigorous document integrity checks in seconds which enable companies like Tandem to provide mortgage brokers with faster, more accurate responses. Sikoia’s solution combines AI, traditional data extraction methods, and advanced business logic and categorization to automate key aspects of the verification process — such as income, affordability assessments, and application completeness. The solution provides 100% coverage; works seamlessly with broker-submitted documents such as payslips, bank statements, and tax returns; and delivers enhanced accuracy and auditability. A user-friendly portal and an API ensure easy and scalable integration into institutions’ current systems.

“Tandem is starting the new year on a strong note, and our partnership with Sikoia underscores this commitment,” Tandem Bank Director of Second Charge Sales and Distribution – Mortgage Division, Nigel Brookes, said. “By harnessing their AI-driven technology, we’re transforming a traditionally time-consuming process into a streamlined, efficient workflow — enabling faster and more accurate service for our customers. This partnership reflects our dedication to driving innovation and setting new benchmarks for efficiency and customer satisfaction for second charges.”

Among the U.K.’s oldest digital challenger banks, Tandem Bank was launched in 2014. The bank established itself by providing fair mortgages and savings products, and by acquiring Harrods Bank in 2018. Tandem Bank’s mission to build “the U.K.’s greener digital bank” became evident in its 2020 acquisition of green home improvement loan specialist Allium Lending Group and, further, with its 2022 merger with Oplo. Today, Tandem Bank offers savings accounts, mortgages, home and automobile financing, home improvement loans, and green home funding. Since inception, the institution has provided more than $644 million (£523 million) in green home improvement lending.

Headquartered in London and founded in 2021, Sikoia made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope last year. At the conference, the fintech demonstrated its AI-powered application document processing technology that provides instant customer feedback; automated verification for income, employment, affordability, and more; and a reduction in document handling costs and time of 75%.

Sikoia’s partnership with Tandem Bank comes days after the company announced that it was working with U.K.-based specialist loan brokerage Y3S. Sikoia will help the firm streamline its customer verification processes for brokers and borrowers.

“At Y3S, safeguarding our brokers and their clients is a top priority,” Y3S CEO Barney Drake said. “Our partnership with Sikoia demonstrates our dedication to staying ahead of the curve in fraud prevention and compliance, giving brokers greater confidence in the solutions we offer.”

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