Novus has launched Pathfinder, a mortgage journey simulator designed to help lenders identify friction points before investing in process or technology change. The platform aims to model existing journeys using real-world data and test how changes to systems, suppliers and customer journeys could affect performance.
For advisers, better lender-side simulation could eventually mean fewer avoidable delays, clearer application requirements and more predictable case progression. It may be particularly valuable in specialist lending, where manual hand-offs, unusual income evidence and multiple third parties can create operational bottlenecks.
The key AI and data-governance question is whether models reflect real customer outcomes rather than average-case efficiency alone. Lenders and intermediary firms should test impacts on vulnerable customers, complex cases and different borrower groups, with transparent escalation routes when automated journeys fail.