Nationwide Building Society

How Nationwide broke new ground with mortgages for later life

The first high-street lender to offer comprehensive mortgage options and digitally convenient advice for people over 55.

Committed to serving its members through all stages of life, Nationwide Building Society became the first high-street lender to offer comprehensive mortgage options and digitally convenient advice for people over 55.

The British financial institution teamed up with Publicis Sapient to create the Later Life Lending product suite: a first-of-its-kind service that empowers people to enjoy their later years.

The imperative for change

One of the joys of retirement is finally having the time to take dream trips, help loved-ones financially, consolidate debt or make home improvements. Despite best efforts, however, some might not have enough cash on hand to capitalize on this freedom.

To make matters worse, there aren’t many borrowing options for people 55 and over. For years, this underserved age group has been seeking options to access the value in their homes. Nationwide listened.

The transformative solution

Bringing together the latest technological capabilities and incisive strategies to enhance the customer’s experience, Publicis Sapient created a digital platform that executes and scales Nationwide’s three new later-life mortgage products: Retirement Capital and Interest, Retirement Interest Only and Lifetime.

The platform enables Nationwide to present a holistic view of the member’s situation and options via an online app accessible to mortgage consultants who can provide advice to members based on their situation. The application is underpinned by an event-driven architecture, the first ever in Nationwide, that ensures reliability, resilience, availability and agility. Back-office processes were automated so business-operations teams could handle more cases.

“This partnership was truly an amazing triumph. Nationwide and Publicis Sapient brought together the latest technological capabilities, most incisive strategies and very best talent. Now we’re able to offer alternative options and enhanced experiences for our members in later life – all in record-breaking time.”

Gary Badminton , Product Owner, Later Life Mortgages at Nationwide Building Society

The business impact

Later Life Lending streamlines the user experience while maintaining Nationwide’s human touch. This agile platform, which took Publicis Sapient only 10 months to build, opened a new revenue stream for Nationwide as well as empowering customers to make significant, informed financial decisions.

Since the app’s launch in April 2019, Nationwide has seen an increase in customers logging in to choose one of the three propositions available so they can access the value tied up in their home. The Later Life Lending suite has been described as “a benchmark for the industry” and “way ahead of the rest of the market” in the way it created a single process for all repayment types. The buzz reinforced Nationwide’s forward-thinking reputation.