When Sturgis Bank & Trust Company faced a backlog of loans, the traditional loan approval process became untenable.

The Michigan-based bank had more than 100 loans to process each week. Each loan required physical signatures on paper contracts.

Speeding up the loan application process isn’t just a way to make work less tedious. It has a direct effect on a bank’s bottom line. Like most banks, Sturgis generates revenue from its loan activity. The faster a loan is approved, the more opportunity for bank revenue. It was time for a digital solution.

The Digital Solution

Sturgis discovered the OnBoard platform’s capabilities solved their challenges by providing the opportunity to approve loans in real time, from anywhere.

The bank’s mortgage servicing pipeline handles about 7,000 loans. Before implementing OnBoard, loan officers would walk around to procure bank officials’ signatures. Now, a more efficient workflow has replaced this process. Here’s how it currently works:

• They upload loan applications, and all stakeholders are notified in real time.

• Executives ask questions and get real-time responses.

• Loans are approved or rejected more quickly.

• Approval notifications are automatically sent via OnBoard to loan officers and processors.

• The funds are disbursed in record time.

Additionally, when the bank’s loan committee meets, much of the business that took place during past board meetings is already complete. Meetings that used to take two hours now last about 30 minutes.

“If someone has a question on a loan, I want the lender responding to it because they know the file the best,” Sturgis CEO Jason Hyska said. “[Lenders] don’t have loan approval authority, but I ask them in OnBoard to tell me the story behind the loan. What are the things that I’m not seeing on paper? When I type in a note or comment on that loan, the lender gets an email instantaneously.”

Other Tools at Banks’ Disposal

Does your bank use Microsoft 365 products (Microsoft Word, Excel, and/or PowerPoint)? Integrating those files into a board portal might seem like a cumbersome process. But it won’t be soon.

OnBoard’s latest product update, the Microsoft 365 Integration for Document Editing, includes the ability for Microsoft files such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and others to:

• Open Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for real-time collaboration within the OnBoard platform.

• Save within OnBoard to ensure files are secure and easily accessible.

• Users with Microsoft 365 accounts can set up integration easily with just a few clicks.

• Microsoft 365 file collaboration will be available within the OnBoard web app (there is not yet availability in iOS and Android).

OnBoard’s board intelligence solution serves over 5,000 organizations worldwide hosting over 100,000 meetings per year. For over 15 years, OnBoard has worked with bank leaders, boards, and their committees, providing an elegant solution to enhance governance, improve decision making, and uncover key insights.

Are you interested in seeing how OnBoard can help your bank perform more efficiently? Contact us to request a free trial.