By Lewis Harris, Head of Strategic Solutions at Finova
Build vs Buy has been a topic of hot debate throughout my career in technology, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Even in the world of AI, the conversation continues to evolve. I understand both sides of the coin — one offers autonomy and control, the other scalability and innovation — and neither is wrong. But whichever path you take, make no mistake, this is a decision that will profoundly shape your business for the next five years and beyond. It deserves serious, clear-eyed thinking.
And in the context of UK mortgage lending, the stakes are even higher. Mortgage transformation is hard. It's complex, it's heavily regulated, and the market has a habit of shifting just when you think you've found your footing. Getting this decision wrong isn't just costly — it can set you back years. So before you plant your flag in either camp, it's worth taking the time to really understand what you're signing up for.
Build – what’s in it for the lender?
The appeal of building is understandable. No one knows a lender's customers, products and policies better than the lender themselves, and a bespoke platform does offer the ability to shape the customer journey in ways that an off-the-shelf solution may struggle to replicate. There's a broader strategic argument too — owning your technology roadmap means you can, in theory, innovate at your own pace rather than at the pace of a third-party vendor. For lenders with a clear view of where the market is heading, that level of control is an attractive proposition. And building does give you the ability to architect a solution around your existing technology preferences and infrastructure, which on the surface at least, removes the need to compromise. These are all valid reasons to consider building, and it would be wrong to dismiss them outright.
Build – what’s the catch?
But here's where the reality of building starts to bite. You are, by definition, starting from scratch — there is no accelerator, no head start, no shortcut. And before you even get to that point, it's worth taking a look at what skills you actually have internally and whether it’ set-up for success. Building a mortgage origination platform takes significant time, resource and investment, and the uncomfortable truth is that by the time you have something that actually works, the market has moved and customer expectations have shifted with it. Many lenders who go down this path find themselves permanently playing catch-up, and that's a difficult position to be in when your competitors are already ahead.
Then there's the ongoing challenge that rarely gets enough airtime in these conversations — maintenance. Technology doesn't stand still, and neither do the skills required to support it. What felt like the right architectural decision three years ago may not feel that way today, and pivoting is rarely straightforward or cheap. Over time, this creates a quietly expensive problem: growing infrastructure costs, siloed teams, and a codebase that gets patched rather than properly evolved. You end up plastering over cracks rather than addressing the underlying issues, and before long you're sitting on a monolithic platform that is costly to run, difficult to change, and increasingly hard to justify.
Buy – what’s in it for the lender?
Partnering with a technology provider is, in my view, where the real conversation starts. Rather than spending years building foundations, the infrastructure is already there — battle-tested, continuously invested in, and built by people whose entire business depends on it being good. That last point is worth sitting with for a moment. A technology provider isn't a lender trying to become a tech company, they are a tech company, full stop. Continuously benchmarking the market, investing in R&D, and staying ahead of the curve isn't a nice-to-have for them — it's an existential requirement. As a lender partnering with that business, you become a direct beneficiary of that investment, at a fraction of what it would cost you to replicate it yourself.
And that frees you up to do what you are actually good at — lending. Your competitive edge as a lender isn't in writing code or managing infrastructure, it's in your products, your relationships, your service and your ability to win and retain customers. Buying a solution lets you redirect your energy and resource back towards exactly that.
There's also the question of scale. Growth puts enormous pressure on technology, and with a partner model that burden shifts — the platform scales with your business, without you having to absorb the full cost and complexity of that evolution. Layer on top of that the ecosystem benefits that come with an established platform — integrations, partner networks, additional functionality that would take years to build independently — and the picture becomes increasingly compelling.
The industry is also moving towards standardisation, and that matters. Lenders who are running bespoke, siloed platforms risk falling behind as the market coalesces around common standards and more open, interoperable approaches. A reputable technology partner keeps you on the right side of that shift, without you having to navigate it alone.
Buy – what’s the catch?
But let's be balanced about this, because there are real trade-offs worth acknowledging. The roadmap exists, yes — but it isn't yours. Priorities are shaped by market trends and the broader customer base of the platform, not solely by your business needs. If you need something today, it may not land for another quarter, and that can be a frustrating reality when you're trying to move at pace.
There's also a trap that more lenders fall into than you might expect — buying a platform and then trying to fundamentally reshape it to mirror what they would have built themselves. At that point, you've lost the benefit of buying entirely. What you're left with is effectively a build, but with ongoing licensing costs and significantly less control. It's an expensive middle ground that serves no one well.
And perhaps the biggest consideration of all — one that doesn't get talked about enough — is that successfully adopting an off-the-shelf platform isn't just a technology transformation, it's a cultural one. That's where these projects most commonly fail. It requires the business to change around the platform, not the other way around, and getting genuine organisational buy-in for that shift is harder than most lenders anticipate going in.
Where I have seen this work, and work well, is when the lender commits fully to an adopt rather than adapt mindset from day one. That distinction, simple as it sounds, makes all the difference.
Is there a hybrid approach?
But what if you didn't have to choose? Hear me out for a second, because I'm seeing this more and more these days— a hybrid approach, or what I'd call Buy to Build. The premise is straightforward. You buy the core foundations, offsetting the heavy infrastructure, maintenance and support burden to a long-term technology partner. But you retain a focused internal roadmap of differentiators — the things that genuinely set you apart — and you build those yourselves.
Where your roadmap and your partner's roadmap naturally converge, you cherry pick. You take what they've built where it serves you, and you invest your own R&D where it doesn't. When your vendor ships an improved affordability calculator that meets new regulatory requirements, you adopt it. When they release a feature that doesn't account for the nuances of your specific lending appetite or customer segments, you overlay your own. That selectivity is the entire point.
And origination platforms are particularly well-suited to this model. Modern loan origination systems are increasingly API-driven and modular. You can consume the vendor's document capture, credit bureau integrations, and fraud screening whilst running your own decisioning logic and underwriting rules on top. The boundaries between platform and proprietary are clearer, which makes the division of labour more practical.
The trick is knowing where to draw the line. The question to ask is: do I need this now, or can it wait? If your partner is releasing a capable solution in six months that falls under their support umbrella, why divert your own resources to build it today? Save your powder for the big bets—the things that genuinely stand you out from the rest of the pack. But here's the reality: this approach only works if you have the skills, capacity, and know-how to execute it. You need a team that can build what matters and the judgment to know what that is. Pick your battles. If it's foundational capability that your partner does well, leverage it. If it's a differentiator that directly impacts how you win—your underwriting edge, your borrower experience —build it. This is why roadmap alignment is fundamental. When you enter into this type of arrangement with a partner, it needs to be a hand in glove partnership rather than a typical vendor relationship.
It's a model that gives you the best of both worlds, without the full weight of either. That, to me, is what Buy to Build looks like in practice. And it's a model I see the most forward-thinking lenders moving toward, not as a compromise between two imperfect options, but as a deliberate strategy in its own right.
That said, it's not a universal answer. For some Tier 2 lenders and below, the appetite and capacity to run an internal innovation function is often simply not there, and in those cases a cleaner buy approach is usually the smarter, more pragmatic call.
Conclusion
Whichever path you're considering, the decision deserves more than a commercial conversation. Before you commit to anything, take a long and honest look at your own business — what does your internal capability actually look like today? What does your technology landscape look like in five years? And critically, where do you genuinely want to compete? The answers to those questions should shape your approach far more than any vendor pitch or industry trend ever could.
Build, buy, or somewhere in between — there is no universally right answer. But there is a right answer for your business, and finding it starts with asking the right questions.
