Specialist Mortgage Group has integrated an artificial intelligence compliance platform into its CRM system to support case reviews, vulnerability assessments and advice suitability checks across its specialist mortgage operations.
The Cardiff-based group, which operates Y3S Loans, Y3S Bridging and Commercial and Chase Blue Loans, has deployed Curvestone AI to assess case information against its internal policies as applications progress.
The technology connects directly to the group’s existing CRM through an API, examining information from call transcripts, emails, WhatsApp messages, text messages, credit files and applicant records.
Four automated assessments are currently operational, covering lender documentation requirements, customer vulnerability, Land Registry reports and advice suitability. The suitability assessment evaluates cases against more than 100 validation points and produces a pass or fail outcome.
Each report takes approximately five minutes to complete and provides supporting evidence for its findings. Advisers retain responsibility for final decisions, with assessments and outcomes recorded for audit purposes.
The information also contributes to the group’s monthly management information reporting and annual Consumer Duty report.
MAINTAINING OVERSIGHT AS CASE VOLUMES GROW
Specialist Mortgage Group has undertaken quality-control checks on every case for almost a decade. The introduction of Curvestone is intended to maintain that level of scrutiny as the business expands, without requiring a corresponding increase in compliance resources.
The implementation follows the Financial Conduct Authority’s review of distribution in the second charge mortgage market, which has placed particular emphasis on the suitability of advice rather than simply assessing whether customers meet lending criteria.
One early example involved a customer who mentioned a recent bereavement during an initial conversation but did not refer to it again. When the AI vulnerability assessment was conducted two weeks later, the system identified the earlier disclosure and presented the information to the adviser.
The adviser was then able to consider whether the customer required additional support or more time before making a decision.
Barney Drake (pictured), chief executive of Specialist Mortgage Group, says: “Before Curvestone, vulnerability assessment was done at adviser level, and ensuring consistency across 40 to 50 advisers was far more challenging. Now it’s driven by our policy, and takes minutes to present all evidence to the advisor, who then makes the final call.”
He adds: “The investment is comparable to having a person do the work, but the outcome is consistent in every case. AI is there to assist, not to replace, and it puts me in a position to consider significant scale without depending on recruitment.”
CONSISTENCY IN COMPLIANCE ASSESSMENTS
The platform applies the group’s existing policies rather than replacing its advice procedures, with the objective of producing consistent assessments across advisers and cases.
Dawid Kotur, founder and chief executive of Curvestone AI, says: “Y3S already checks every case, which puts them ahead of much of the market.
“Together we’ve made that oversight consistent, evidenced and fast, built on their own policies and running inside the system their team already uses. We look forward to extending the work as the group scales.”
The deployment reflects the growing use of AI within specialist mortgage distribution to support compliance monitoring and case administration, while retaining human responsibility for advice and customer outcomes.
