Atom Bank has deployed a Flowable lending platform, reducing commercial real estate loan origination times by 30%.
The implementation is structured to enable the integration of AI capabilities, including AI augmented underwriting, directly into the bank's lending workflow. The primary objectives are to reduce origination times, increase processing capacity, and enable lending specialists to focus on more complex casework.
The deployment has already produced a 30% reduction in the time between application in principle and approval. Further reductions are anticipated as the system continues to develop. The bank has also reported a material uplift in processing capacity, enabling it to scale loan volumes and absorb periods of peak market demand without requiring a proportional increase in operational headcount.
Operational impact and broker experience
A central objective of the deployment is to remove repetitive administrative tasks from the workload of lending specialists, allowing them to devote more time to complex case management. The bank states this will accelerate the processing of transactions that involve atypical deal conditions or additional due diligence requirements.
Functionality available to brokers has also been updated through the platform. Atom Bank's commercial property intermediaries now have access to streamlined login facilities and real-time case tracking, reducing friction that has historically been associated with commercial property financing.
Tom Renwick, head of business lending at Atom Bank, said that the capacity to complete transactions more quickly than competitors, through a combination of technology and process engineering, will form a central part of the bank's competitive positioning. Renwick noted that the new infrastructure allows the bank to increase its operational output without a corresponding rise in fixed costs, and that the composable architecture underlying the system positions the bank to respond to evolving broker requirements and market conditions.
Composable architecture and AI readiness
The Flowable platform operates on a composable architecture model, allowing individual components of the lending workflow to be updated or replaced without disrupting the broader system. This structure is intended to support the incremental integration of AI tools over time, rather than requiring wholesale technical changes.
With this in mind, the move reflects a wider trend in commercial lending, where institutions are turning to workflow automation to address capacity constraints and processing complexity. In commercial real estate, administrative volume and intermediary management have historically contributed to extended turnaround timelines, making operational scalability an important consideration for lenders seeking to grow volumes.
No financial terms of the agreement between Atom Bank and Flowable were disclosed.
