Optimising banking operations to accelerate lending decisions and support safe growth

Bank North was created to challenge the pace of small and medium-sized enterprise lending. Its ambition was clear: reduce loan approval times from the industry norm of around three months to just two weeks, while maintaining the regulatory standards expected of a UK bank.

The operating model combined a cloud-first approach with regional lending teams working from high-street locations. These local teams were designed to make informed, relationship-led decisions, supported by experienced bankers. As lending volumes increased, this model placed growing pressure on the underlying data, reporting and operational foundations.

To sustain momentum, Bank North needed confidence that its systems could support fast, consistent decision-making across regions, provide clear regulatory oversight, and scale without introducing operational risk. Fragmented data, manual reporting and limited end-to-end visibility would have made this increasingly difficult as the bank grew.

The challenge was to establish a secure, integrated and scalable operational backbone that supported speed, compliance and long-term growth from day one.

Answer Digital partnered with Bank North at an early stage to shape and deliver its operational and data foundations.

We worked closely with leadership, delivery teams and external partners to define the technology and data roadmap that would support the bank’s lending model. This included establishing a single, coherent data foundation that connected core banking, customer, payments and finance functions, giving teams a shared and trusted view of operations.

Alongside this, we supported the design of automated reporting and insight to meet regulatory and operational needs. This provided timely, consistent information to teams across the bank, while ensuring appropriate controls were in place to support compliance and security.
Delivery was approached iteratively, allowing Bank North to refine processes, adapt quickly to change and build confidence as lending activity scaled.

The work enabled Bank North to deliver on its core ambition of faster lending decisions.

Loan approval times were reduced from around three months to two weeks, significantly improving the experience for small and medium-sized enterprise customers. Automated reporting supported ongoing compliance with Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority requirements, reducing manual effort and operational risk.

The cloud-first operating model allowed the bank to scale without heavy infrastructure investment. Improved data visibility strengthened financial transparency, supporting reconciliation and transaction tracking across the business. The delivery approach enabled continuous improvement, allowing issues to be identified and resolved quickly as the bank evolved.

Together, these outcomes gave Bank North the confidence to grow at pace while maintaining control and regulatory assurance.