Signicat, the first and largest identity assurance provider in the world, and SDC, a full-service IT service partner for the financial sector in the Nordic countries, today announced that 83% of SDC’s Danish banking clients’ customers’ mortgage applications are processed wholly digitally. The fully digital process for application, approval and signing has reduced the time to complete the mortgage process from weeks to days — and sometimes, in markets where consumers have an electronic identity (eID), mere hours. SDC provides financial technology, including system operation and data processing services, to more than 120 banks in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Faroe Islands.

Signicat’s digital signing solution – Sign - has removed the need for customers to visit their branch to complete a mortgage application. All this is now completed digitally — creating a process that is both fast and convenient dramatically enhancing the customer experience.

The news follows the announcement in June last year that SDC would be using Sign for transnational digital signing across financial service applications. The solution allows SDC customers to offer digital signing containing information on who signed the document, when it was signed, and the signatures validity. Customers in markets with an eID scheme, such as NemID in Denmark, can simply use their eID to sign and receive approval in just hours. 

“Financial institutions have invested millions in digital transformation. Digitizing every interaction with customers, from the first mile to the last, is essential to truly capitalise on this investment,” said Gunnar Nordseth, CEO at Signicat. “Our pioneering work with SDC has dramatically accelerated the mortgage application process, resulting in positive customer feedback and, critically, fewer abandoned applications. At a time when revenue generation is more important than ever, banks must provide the fully-digital services customers demand.”

“Applying for a mortgage can be one of the most challenging and stressful processes people face. We wanted to make it as frictionless as possible,” said Nikolai Andersen, Head of R&D Digitization at SDC. “The collaboration with Signicat has created a truly digital-only process and the numbers speak for themselves. Adoption and critically conversion of applications using eSignatures is skyrocketing, especially in markets with eID schemes that accelerate the process. We look forward to exploring other ways our bank customers can benefit from eID schemes in relevant markets.”

SDC’s digital signing solution uses local eID schemes to verify identity. The eID schemes used are Bank ID in Norway and Sweden, and NemID in Denmark, mapping SDC’s footprint.