Mortgage industry shows interest in UNIPASS system

Cheltenham & Gloucester, Halifax, Nationwide, Northern Rock and Alliance & Leicester were all recommended for the UNIPASS system that currently has a user base of 14,000 advisers within the UK’s life and pensions industry.

UNIPASS has been suggested as the next step for online services as it removes the need for multiple-user identifications and separate passwords while further enhancing safe trading via the internet and online services.

Over 50 per cent of those questioned suggested using UNIPASS systems with Jupiter within the mortgage market, with 13 per cent calling for Fidelity, 9 per cent for Gartmore, and 8 and 6 per cent respectively for Invesco and Newstar.

With Origo admitting that it is currently looking into facilitating electronic data standards for the mortgage industry, Paul Pettitt, managing director of Origo, agreed that UNIPASS would benefit the current mortgage market.

He said: “The premise behind UNIPASS is simple. Removing user-IDs and passwords from an adviser’s working day saves them time and money. There is no reason why this model could not be duplicated for use beyond the life and pensions sector. These polls show that there is demand from advisers to use UNIPASS in fund management and mortgages, which is promising.”