Scott Ramon, chief technology officer at nbkc bank, is all about software development.
The $1.2 billion-asset bank in Leawood, Kansas, devotes a significant portion of its tech investment to designing its own software solutions. These products impact every facet of the bank's operations, from back-office reporting and automation to an enhanced front-end customer experience. As CTO, Ramon spearheads the bank's custom software initiatives and leads a team of about a dozen engineers. Most recently, this team created an efficient pricing tool for the bank's mortgage division.
Nbkc bank has a large home loans team that can close more than 20,000 mortgages during an active year. Until last year, the bank's capital markets team often needed to wait until late in the morning to release initial rate sheet pricing. This was due to a multistep process that required direct involvement of the capital markets personnel. Throughout each day, they meticulously tracked rates manually. If a re-price was needed, the multistep process would need to be repeated, resulting in additional downtime for the sales team.
In response, Ramon's team developed a proprietary pricing model using data streamed from various sources, including the mortgage-backed securities market. This initiative culminated in the creation of the bank's "Home Loans Pricing Engine," a real-time software application that empowers the mortgage team to respond to market fluctuations swiftly and efficiently with a high level of precision. The bank sees this capability as a significant competitive advantage because it offers real-time push notifications when pricing thresholds are reached.
This proactive approach enables the mortgage team to identify anomalies and discrepancies in market pricing, ultimately saving both time and money. With this technology in place, nbkc loan officers can now work more efficiently, providing customers with competitive mortgage rates quickly. Moreover, the tool mitigates the bank's risk exposure by allowing the bank to react swiftly to market conditions.
The bank said the technology spurred significant cost and time savings. The capital markets team now has the ability to focus on other priorities in the early hours of the day, including trading. It has also allowed the bank's sales team to start quoting customers earlier in the day, reducing downtime. The automated notifications on market movement and the simple one-button push process have allowed nbkc to delegate the rate sheet issuance process to a broader group of individuals. This has allowed members of all teams to focus on other duties during the day, knowing they can react quickly to any change in the market.
Ramon and the nbkc tech team now aim to refine and potentially license this technology to other banks.
