Sutherland Transforms Loan Underwriting for a Leading Digital Lender, Achieving 45% TCO Reduction and 30% Faster Loan Processing with AI-Driven Automation

Client Overview

The client is a leading digital marketplace lender that specializes in personal loans, small business lending, and alternative credit solutions. As one of the pioneers in the fintech lending space, the company has facilitated billions in loan originations, serving customers who seek quick, flexible, and transparent lending options.

The Challenge

Manual Lending Processes and Infrastructure Limit Scalability and Profitability

As the client experienced rapid expansion, its traditional lending infrastructure struggled to keep pace with increasing loan application volumes. Manual processes in underwriting, risk assessment, and customer service led to inefficiencies, higher costs, and operational bottlenecks. To remain competitive, the client needed a scalable, digital-first approach to streamline loan origination and risk evaluation.

Key operational roadblocks included:

• High Cost-to-Originate – Manual underwriting processes and fragmented workflows drove up the total cost of ownership (TCO), limiting profitability and scalability.
• Slow Loan Processing – The absence of automation in credit decisioning resulted in prolonged approval timelines and funding delays, negatively impacting borrower experience and lender efficiency.
• Inconsistent Risk Profiling – Traditional credit models lacked advanced predictive analytics, making it difficult to assess creditworthiness for non-traditional borrowers and leading to suboptimal risk management.
• Scalability Constraints – The client’s existing infrastructure struggled to efficiently process growing loan volumes, increasing operational strain and limiting growth potential.

To overcome these challenges, the client required a digital-first lending framework capable of automating loan approvals, optimizing risk assessment, and reducing operational costs. Sutherland was selected as a strategic partner to modernize retail lending operations by leveraging AI-driven risk modeling, workflow automation, and intelligent process optimization, ensuring faster approvals, improved compliance, and an enhanced borrower experience.

Sutherland Solution

An AI-Led Lending Transformation for Speed, Scale, and Intelligence

Sutherland implemented an AI-driven, end-to-end lending automation framework to streamline loan origination, credit decisioning, and customer experience while improving efficiency and risk management.

1. Intelligent Credit Decisioning & Risk-Based Lending Models
   Sutherland developed a predictive AI-driven credit scoring model that extended beyond traditional FICO-based assessments, providing a more comprehensive risk evaluation. By integrating alternative data sources – such as income patterns, transaction behaviors, and financial history – the solution enabled more accurate borrower risk profiling, expanding credit access to non-traditional applicants while reducing default risks.
   
2. Workflow Automation for Faster Approvals
   To accelerate loan processing, Sutherland automated key workflows across origination, underwriting, and funding, reducing processing times by 30%. By leveraging Robotic Process Automation (RPA), manual data entry and verification bottlenecks were eliminated, enhancing operational efficiency and ensuring a seamless, end-to-end lending process.
   
3. Digital Self-Service & Customer Engagement
   To enhance borrower experience and reduce reliance on human intervention, AI-powered chatbots were introduced to handle loan application support, addressing inquiries in real time. Additionally, personalized borrower journeys were designed using behavioral analytics, enabling a more engaging and intuitive customer experience.
   
4. Compliance & Fraud Prevention Enhancements
   Sutherland strengthened regulatory compliance through AI-driven fraud detection algorithms, which identified and flagged suspicious applications in real time, reducing fraud exposure. Additionally, enhanced regulatory compliance workflows ensured seamless audit readiness, minimizing risk while maintaining industry and legal standards.

By integrating AI-powered automation, predictive analytics, and digital customer engagement, Sutherland enabled the client to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by 45%, accelerate loan processing by 30%, and enhance compliance and risk management – positioning the lender for scalable, future-ready growth.

The Outcome

Digitally Scaled Lending with Lower Costs, Faster Approvals, and Smarter Risk Management

Sutherland’s AI-driven lending modernization delivered significant improvements in efficiency, cost reduction, and risk management, equipping the client with a scalable, future-ready lending framework:

• 45% Reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – End-to-end automation across loan origination, underwriting, and servicing eliminated inefficiencies, significantly lowering operational expenses and improving profitability.
• 30% Acceleration in Loan Processing – AI-powered workflow automation streamlined credit approvals and funding cycles, reducing delays, enhancing borrower experience, and increasing lending capacity.
• Advanced Credit Decisioning & Risk Intelligence – AI-driven risk profiling leveraged predictive analytics and alternative data sources to refine creditworthiness assessments, enhancing portfolio quality and minimizing default rates.
• Strengthened Compliance & Fraud Prevention – Integrated AI-based fraud detection and regulatory compliance frameworks helped proactively mitigate financial risk, ensure adherence to evolving industry regulations, and optimize audit readiness.
• Scalable, AI-First Lending Ecosystem – A fully automated digital lending infrastructure enabled greater agility, seamless scalability, and sustained operational resilience, positioning the client for long-term market leadership.

That’s digital outcomes delivered!

Sutherland’s AI-driven automation and digital transformation helped the client achieve a seamless, cost-efficient, and scalable retail lending model.

By eliminating manual processes, enhancing risk assessments, and improving compliance, the client successfully streamlined its lending operations, setting a new benchmark for digital-first, customer-centric lending.