New ‘transformational’ IDI (Inviting Difference In) Broker Portal to UK brokers

Nottingham Building Society has announced the full market launch of its IDI (Inviting Difference In) Broker Portal, its new proprietary mortgage platform powered by MQube’s Origo technology as part of its commitment to transform the future of lending services for both UK borrowers and brokers. 

Since announcing its partnership with the agile fintech in 2024, this step makes Nottingham Building Society the first organisation to bring this innovative capability to market. The platform is designed to transform the mortgage journey for brokers and their clients, combining advanced AI-driven processing with a faster, more intuitive application process. 

The 176-year-old mutual partnered with London & Country (L&C) at the end of 2024 and across the first half of 2025 to trial the effectiveness of the platform, an AI-driven mortgage origination platform powered by MQube’s Origo technology. Following a successful phased trial, the platform has been rolled out to all brokers. 

The rollout of the new platform will transform Nottingham Building Society’s lending service, enabling the organisation to process and make full decisions on residential mortgage applications significantly more quickly than the market average of 10-14 days. The platform, which automates the entire underwriting process, will not only speed up the decision-making process, but also deliver frictionless customer and broker experience. During the first half of 2025, the society also announced it had helped over 4,000 people buy a home. 

The IDI (Inviting difference in) Broker Portal is designed to take the friction out of the mortgage journey, giving brokers faster decisions, greater certainty, and more time to focus on their clients. MQube’s Origo technology, which has recently won the ‘Best Use of Technology in Personal Finance’ award at the Moneyfacts Awards 2025. It can assess around 20,000 data points in real time thanks to its AI and machine learning capabilities, automatically validating documents and affordability, and only requesting additional information when it’s needed. The result is fewer bottlenecks, fewer delays, and decisions delivered in minutes instead of weeks. 

For brokers, IDI represents a step change in lending. The platform is fully configurable to lending criteria and risk appetite, allowing Nottingham Building Society to respond more quickly to market needs, scale up without increasing cost-to-serve, and deliver smarter, more personalised mortgage options for a wider range of customers. By combining automation with advanced analytics, IDI doesn’t just make mortgages quicker - it makes them simpler, more certain, and ultimately more accessible. 
 
While residential applications are the first products and propositions on the platform, Nottingham Building Society has confirmed that its buy-to-let, foreign national applications and future propositions will be adopted by the new technology as part of the ongoing phased integration. 
 
Speaking about the rollout, Sue Hayes, CEO at Nottingham Building Society, said: “We have spent the last two years building and upgrading a lot of our technology. Our partnership with MQube however has been less than 12 months and is transformational for us. The IDI (Inviting Difference In) Broker Portal will also enable us to move into markets, to use different data sources, and to be able to offer a mortgage to people who would find it very difficult to get one at all. 
 
“By modernising our banking operations and lending decision-making process, alongside our customer and broker facing interfaces, we aim to stand out from the crowd as more people are finding themselves as categorised as non-standard borrowers in the UK.” 
 
“The financial landscape is rapidly evolving, and customers have expectations of seamless, technology-driven financial solutions. Our combination of great people, research, products, and technology will allow us to move in and out of markets to fully support different types of mortgages needs as different demographics change.”  

Stuart Cheetham, CEO of MQube, said: "We’re proud to partner with Nottingham Building Society on the launch of their mortgage transformation project. With our AI-powered Origo platform at the core, more brokers and borrowers will now benefit from faster decisions and a simpler, more certain mortgage journey. It’s fantastic to see Nottingham leading the way for lenders by embracing innovation that truly improves the mortgage experience.” 
 
Mark Harrington, CEO at L&C Mortgages, said: “We have enjoyed a close relationship with Nottingham Building Society for many years and so were delighted to pilot the launch of the new platform and provide controlled testing and feedback in a live environment.   
 
“Nottingham has always valued intermediaries and is a forward-thinking lender, which is clearly reflected in its next stage of transformation through the partnership with MQube and its engagement with our team throughout the pilot. The society’s drive to streamline its processes is sure to benefit advisers and their customers, as the new portal rolls out and the proposition expands further.” 
 
The IDI Broker Portal represents Nottingham Building Society’s latest step in its innovation journey to deliver a market-leading broker and borrower service. Alongside this, the society also confirmed it had partnered with LendingMetrics to adopt new auto-assisted underwriting technology enabling the society to speed up its decision-making process for mortgage applications via intermediaries. The system will also support the development of innovative new propositions enabling them to lend where others may not.  
 

NOTES 

About Nottingham Building Society 
Backed by 175-years of trust and purpose, Nottingham Building Society is a future-focused organisation fighting to help people save, prepare for the future, and own homes in a way that is fit for real life. The member-owned building society offers a range of mortgage and savings solutions to serve the under-served and those with complex financial circumstances, including foreign nationals, ex pats, self-employed income - evolving its products and services to reflect the changing customer needs. As the highest-rated building society on Trustpilot and a 5-star Moneyfacts award winner, its focus remains on offering accessible, considered solutions – supported by trusted service and a longstanding reputation within the communities it serves. Find out more at www.thenottingham.com.  

About MQube 
Founded by Stuart Cheetham and Richard Fitch in 2016, MQube was established with the goal of making mortgage origination and distribution better for all. MQube exists to deliver better outcomes by rethinking every step of the mortgage journey. Designed to empower every part of the ecosystem by focusing on a better experience, higher certainty, and more control. In 2019, MQube raised its seed funding from AV8, IQ Capital and JamJar Investments and has the backing from three of the largest blue-chip financial institutions in the world – Barclays, M&G Investments and Citigroup’s SPRINT arm. For more information, visit: www.mqube.com.    

About L&C Mortgages  
L&C is the UK's largest fee free mortgage broker. L&C’s online and telephony proposition enables customers to receive mortgage advice without requiring a face-to-face meeting. The Company works with over 100 lenders to offer customers the widest choice of mortgages in the UK market, all from a single platform. L&C’s fee free model and award-winning customer service helps customers throughout the mortgage process – no hidden costs or surprises, just straightforward, honest, mortgage advice. Learn more at www.landc.co.uk.