More people are switching to digital letters of authority in a bid to save money and time, Origo claims.
The company said 16 providers now back its Unipass letter of authority, and delivered cost savings of up to 50 per cent compared with manual letter of authority processing.
It is also more environmentally friendly and helps firms meet net zero targets, added Origo.
CEO Anthony Rafferty said: "Providers want to make doing business with them as easy and cost efficient as possible, for all parties.
"This should apply across all aspects of the business – front end and back end. Current letter of authority processes are largely manual and paper and postage heavy, causing delays and frustration.
"But this can be swiftly turned around using a digital process, which we’ve now proven to make commercial sense too. From our user experience it’s clear where the benefits are primarily being realised."
Rafferty said currently the majority of costs associated with the process are in the vetting of requests received, which takes place via email and post.
Origo’s Unipass Letter of Authority service, was launched back in 2020 to allow advisers to use a fully electronic process to obtain letters of authority, submit them and receive detailed contract information back digitally.
Early adopters of the technology were Aviva, Legal & General, Royal London, James Hay, LV and Scottish Widows platform.
It incorporates Unipass Identity, Origo's secure identity system, and enables advisers to see the current status of their letter of authority request.
Rafferty added: "This is not a service that can be put together overnight. When launching a successful technology service into the financial services industry there is a lot of hard work goes into not just building the tech, but creating momentum for what it delivers, especially in the back-office space.
"Providers want to see real-world results before they will adopt the technology, but you can’t show results until someone is using the service."
Research from The Lang Cat at the end of 2023, revealed the average worst case scenario for processing a letter of authority was 59.5 days.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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