Managing Commercial Loan Origination Seamlessly with Flowable

Commercial lending has always been a cornerstone of the financial world, fueling business growth and innovation. However, the traditional process of loan origination can be notoriously complex and time-consuming, often bogged down by manual tasks, disparate systems, and lengthy approval cycles.

During FlowFest’24, Stephen Leake, Product Line Director, and David Ratnage, Head of Commercial Lending Vertical EMEA, presented how they addressed these challenges within FIS. They shared insights into how the fintech giant is leveraging technology to streamline and simplify the loan origination process.

Their key message? Digital transformation is no longer optional but essential for success in today's demanding market.

The wild west of commercial loan origination

FIS doesn't just provide technology; it provides the foundation upon which economies rely, businesses run, and innovators build. Founded in 1968, FIS has evolved into a global fintech leader with a vast network of clients, including banks, wealth managers, insurers, and government agencies. They are deeply ingrained in the fabric of the financial world, proudly serving 95% of the world's leading banks and supporting over $16 trillion in financial assets on their platforms.

FIS serves financial institutions managing all aspects of what David Ratnage dubbed “the money lifecycle.” From savings accounts to transfers, from loans to investments, FIS supports it all. However, one of their highest-value markets is commercial lending, an industry with astronomical value. IDC estimates that the origination process alone will be worth $8.3 billion USD by 2027, with a per annum CAGR of 10%.

Traditionally, commercial loan origination has been a "spaghetti western" of complex processes, with manual data handling across numerous systems. Data is gathered in one office, transformed and aligned with data from another office, input into various documents and spreadsheets, and finally combined to create a single view of the customer relationship and a complete credit file. This convoluted process can take weeks or even months to reach a decision, let alone disburse the funds.

Moreover, regulations and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors are becoming increasingly important in commercial lending. Regulatory bodies, such as the EBA in Europe, are introducing specific guidelines on loan assessments, risk management, and sustainability considerations. Lenders are now required to evaluate the environmental and social impact of their loans, ensuring alignment with sustainable lending policies. This shift towards responsible lending practices adds another layer of complexity to the loan origination process.

How Flowable underpins FIS’s solution

Despite this complexity, the reality remains the same: Businesses need access to capital, and they need it fast. Financial institutions are under pressure to deliver a quicker "time-to-cash" and "time-to-decision.” The challenge lies in streamlining this intricate process while maintaining accuracy and regulatory compliance.

FIS’s dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions is evident in how they sought to address these challenges. Among FIS’s most innovative offerings is its Commercial Loan Origination (CLO) solution, designed to address the complexities of the modern lending landscape. CLO acts as an orchestration layer, seamlessly handling everything from small business loans worth thousands to complex syndicated loans worth billions. David and Stephen’s presentation was particularly timely, as just that week, FIS had received an award for their loan origination services from Chartis for the second year running.

At the heart of FIS's CLO solution is Flowable. Flowable provides a flexible and scalable platform for building and managing complex workflows, enabling FIS to tailor the loan origination process to the specific needs of its clients. Its intuitive modeling tools allow for the efficient design and implementation of intricate workflows, ensuring that each step in the loan origination process is properly managed and automated.

Why Flowable

There are several reasons why FIS chose Flowable over other solutions. Flowable's core features, such as BPMN, CMMN, and DMN modeling capabilities, enable FIS to develop, deploy, and manage complex loan origination workflows. The platform's adaptability to various configurations and extensions ensures it can accommodate diverse client needs and industry best practices.

A key aspect of Flowable's integration within FIS's CLO platform is its capacity to support large, internationally dispersed teams, which is vital for an organization of FIS's scale. The platform's multi-language functionality facilitates communication and collaboration across different linguistic regions, which is crucial for FIS's global expansion strategy. Furthermore, Flowable's robust architecture ensures that FIS's CLO solution can handle the demands of a large user base, providing the necessary performance and scalability to support the growth of FIS's clients. All FIS clients operate on the same code base, significantly simplifying upgrades and maintenance.

Finally, Flowable's user-centric design enables FIS to create landing pages that provide a clear and concise overview of tasks, deadlines, and important information for each user. This not only improves efficiency but also enhances the user experience, making the system more intuitive and user-friendly.

So, this summarizes the “why” behind FIS’s choice to use Flowable—let’s look more deeply at the “how.”

How FIS deploy Flowable

FIS uses Flowable as the orchestration engine that connects various components of its CLO suite. This creates a seamless and efficient user experience, automating key processes and providing a holistic view of the customer lifecycle. The Front-to-Back Office integration model aims to provide a complete lending solution, covering all stages from initial deal creation and credit approval to ongoing portfolio monitoring and loan servicing. Flowable enables the integration of different FIS products, such as their credit assessment tool and loan servicing system, into a unified platform.

These include various key integrations and workflows. One such example is the credit assessment tool; Flowable's extensible UI framework allows FIS to embed historical spreading grids and financial analysis tools directly into the loan origination system. This provides users with easy access to critical data for decision-making. Equally, FIS leveraged Flowable’s low-code approach to develop and deploy a customer rating approval workflow in just 6 months. This workflow automates creating, approving, and potentially overriding customer ratings, ensuring efficient and consistent risk assessment.

Through this collaboration, FIS has achieved significant milestones. They successfully accelerated the time-to-market for new products and features, with some integrations, like the rating approval workflow, being delivered in under six months. The user experience has been significantly enhanced through intuitive UI design, ensuring that the system is not just powerful but also user-friendly.

So, to zoom in more specifically about how FIS is deploying the CLO to customers, let’s outline how they’re working to digitize the entire lending journey. By leveraging Flowable’s flexibility, they can provide clients with a robust platform to which they can add a dash of their “secret sauce.” This is achieved through several key Flowable capabilities:

1. Events framework:

• Enables proactive portfolio management by triggering alerts based on internal activities or external factors like early warning systems.

• Loan officers can address potential issues promptly, minimizing risk and improving customer relationships.

2. Intuitive document modeling:

• Automates the generation of various documents required in the lending process, such as client letters, term sheets, offer letters, and credit memos. 

• Saves time, reduces errors, and ensures consistency in documentation.

3. Decision modeling:

• Facilitates an efficient and accurate approval process by automating risk assessment and determining the appropriate approval level based on predefined rules.

• Improves compliance and reduces delays in loan processing.

4. Case lifecycle patterns and data objects:

• Streamlines data management by separating workflow management data from business data.

• Enables efficient tracking, updating, and reporting on loan-related data throughout the lifecycle of a loan.

• Improves data organization and accessibility for analysis and decision-making.

In summary, FIS's implementation of Flowable transforms the commercial lending process into a more efficient, accurate, and customer-centric experience. By automating tasks, streamlining workflows, and providing a user-friendly platform, FIS empowers loan officers to focus on building relationships and making informed lending decisions.

Future plans for more Flowable-powered projects

The journey of FIS's CLO is far from over. They have ambitious plans for the future, focusing on further streamlining and empowering both users and clients. A key initiative is the migration to Flowable Work, which promises a simplified architecture and enhanced configurability. This shift will not only improve efficiency but also reduce hosting costs, a win-win for both FIS and its clients.

FIS is also keenly exploring the potential of generative AI. Imagine AI summarizing crucial documents, extracting key data from loan agreements, and even translating languages in real time. This could revolutionize how lenders process information and make decisions. They envision an AI-powered "lender's copilot" that provides intelligent assistance and puts critical data at users' fingertips.

Finally, FIS plans to implement Flowable Design with guardrails. This feature will empower clients to configure and customize the solution to their specific needs while ensuring these changes are made safely and without jeopardizing the system's stability. It's all about giving clients more control while maintaining a secure and reliable platform.

The future of lending is here

FIS's CLO solution, powered by Flowable, is transforming the commercial loan origination process. By combining FIS's deep understanding of the lending landscape with Flowable's powerful workflow capabilities, they have created a solution that is not only efficient and scalable but also user-friendly and adaptable.

In a world where businesses demand quick access to capital and financial institutions are pressured to accelerate decision-making, technology is no longer a luxury but a necessity. FIS's CLO demonstrates the power of digital transformation in streamlining complex processes, reducing bottlenecks, and ultimately improving the lending experience for everyone involved.

To learn more about how FIS's CLO solution can revolutionize your operations, no matter the scale of your business, take a look at the product specs or get in touch. the future of lending is digital, and with solutions like CLO, that future is now.

Learn more about the Flowable Platform or contact us to discuss your specific use case.