Afin Bank Chooses Nivo to Power Broker Communication

20 May 2025

Afin Bank, a new bank created to help people from Africa and other foreign national communities living in the UK to get mortgages, has partnered with Nivo to implement its broker facing technology through a solution which promotes simplicity and speed.

Utilising Nivo’s technology solution to handle all broker interactions, Afin Bank’s brokers will spend less time gathering data and documents by unifying all communications through one preferred channel when the lender fully launches later this year.

Inefficient communication between brokers and lenders has long been a challenge in the specialist mortgage industry. Most lenders rely on email communication, but this requires additional effort, causes time lags and results in back-and-forth between various parties chasing for missing information.

Using Nivo’s broker facing solution, which tackles all interactions from initial enquiry to fully packaged case, Afin Bank will be able to offer a quicker and more efficient service to its intermediaries, helping more borrowers get the mortgages they need.

Borrowers from Africa and other diaspora communities living and working in the UK often struggle to get mortgages from mainstream lenders because of issues such as their visa status or lack of UK credit history. While designed with foreign nationals in mind, Afin Bank says its lending products may also be suitable for UK resident customers including high-net worth borrowers and self-employed workers.

Afin Bank says the Nivo solution ensures clarity throughout the application process and provides the certainty needed to help underserved customers overcome the barriers they normally face trying to secure a mortgage.

Alan Davison, Chief Commercial Officer of Afin Bank commented:

"This partnership with Nivo highlights Afin Bank’s commitment to brokers and underserved borrowers. We’re building a lender from the ground up and that means selecting the best technology to support them.

“Nivo’s messaging-first platform means brokers don’t have to learn a new system and it fits neatly with how they already work. It’s fast, intuitive and removes the pain points of traditional portals that make brokers bristle."

Matthew Elliott, Founder of Nivo, added:

“Brokers don’t want to juggle multiple logins, learn new interfaces, or be forced into using rigid workflows. Email persists because it’s the path of least resistance, but with Nivo, brokers get the best of both worlds; a seamless, structured messaging experience that feels as simple as email but without the inefficiencies. Using Nivo’s Verified Identity Messaging service, further speed, clarity, certainty and security are afforded to Afin Bank’s customer-base.“

Alan Davison added:

“Our goal is to remove barriers, make processes simpler and deliver an experience that brokers prefer, helping them to help their customers. With Nivo we’re ensuring that brokers can work seamlessly while maintaining security, compliance and efficiency. It’s the best way to enter the market with a broker-friendly proposition."

While some lenders have invested in portals to mitigate issues, brokers often resist the introduction of these new systems due to the increased login fatigue, rigid workflows and additional unnecessary steps which disrupt the brokers’ natural way of working. Largely, brokers prefer more conversational, flexible ways to engage which fit their existing workflow.

At the heart of Nivo is a central shopping list where all documents and outstanding actions are visible to involved parties in one place, keeping everything organised and easy to track. As the broker-facing solution is built on Nivo’s core platform, Afin Bank will be instantly accessible to hundreds of brokers who already use the system daily.

Afin Bank received its banking licence Authorisation with Restrictions1 (AwR) in October last year and is backed by African reinsurer WAICA Re, which has committed £62m to setting up the bank. It will offer a range of residential and buy-to-let mortgages this year2 alongside FSCS protected savings accounts.

To learn more about Nivo’s partnership with Afin Bank, please visit: https://www.nivohub.com/ or https://www.afinbank.com