• Enhanced digital savings and mortgage serviceability, streamlined account opening and enhanced anti-fraud protection will be delivered as part of ongoing digital overhaul by Darlington Building Society. 
• The ieDigital Interact platform was selected to power the transformation. 
• Darlington Building Society recently reported a profit before tax of £1.8m during the first half of 2021 - more than double the profit for the whole of 2020. 

Darlington Building Society has announced a major investment in digital banking services. The upgrade will give members the option to open accounts online in a more streamlined way, provide self-service mortgage options and offer even more enhanced security with two-factor authentication, all powered by ieDigital’s Interact platform. 

The award-winning society, recently named “Building Society of the Year” at the Money Age Mortgage Awards 2021, is in the process of an exciting transformation, incorporating all customer-facing channels.  

Chief Operating Officer Chris Hunter, who is overseeing the transformation, said: “Investing in a new platform to digitally serve our customers is further evidence of our ‘members first’ strategy, which is contributing to solid growth in 2021. Enhancing our digital banking facilities for savings and mortgage customers, in conjunction with ieDigital, positions the Society for scalable growth. At the same time, it provides those of our members who want a digital service with the option to transact their way.  

“The pandemic showed the importance of resilience and flexibility in how we serve members. We’re proud that we chose to keep branches open, expand our customer care team throughout the crisis, and maintain the high level of service our members are accustomed to.” 

Commenting on the partnership, Jerry Young, CEO of ieDigital, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Darlington Building Society to help the Society extend its reach to savers and mortgage customers across the UK. Investing in Darlington Building Society’s online services is a recipe for scalable growth, while at the same time supporting the customer service excellence and member-focused ethos that the Society is renowned for.” 

Discussing the selection, Darlington Building Society’s Chief Operating Officer Chris Hunter said, “ieDigital came top when we weighed all our criteria. They understand our market, the platform’s configurability and customer experience capabilities matched our vision, and the time to value made this the most compelling business case.” 

Benefits that Darlington Building Society will achieve from the implementation of ieDigital’s Interact platform will include: 

• Streamlined online account opening for existing members. 
• The ability to onboard new members online with enhanced anti-fraud protection. 
• Mortgage and savings account self-service options with 24x7 straight through processing. 
• Digital banking services that work seamlessly across desktop, tablet and mobile devices. 
• Enhanced security with two-factor authentication. 
• Rapid configuration and extensibility that will provide long-term agility for the Society. For example, Darlington is integrating a third-party KYC service to enhance its fraud risk management posture for online account originations.