Fifth Third Hails New Fiserv Platform

For Fifth Third Bank, the path leading to its successful conversion to the Fiserv mortgage servicing platform was something of an odyssey.

Since the mid-1980s, the Cincinnati-based bank had been maintaining its mortgage system in-house, after the system's vendor stopped supporting it. When Fifth Third acquired CitiFed Bancorp in 1998, it found itself stuck with two mortgage servicing platforms. Rather than consolidate the two, the bank chose to start from scratch.

"We knew if we wanted to grow our business we needed to purchase a new system," said Donald Andres Jr., vice president of consumer lending business applications and data processing at $44 billion Fifth Third, which is merging with Old Kent Bank, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Fiserv's MortgageServ was a perfect match for Fifth Third, according to Andres. "Fiserv was our choice because their system was state-of-the-art."

Fiserv analysts reviewed the total workflow, helped maximize efficiency and customized the system to handle construction loans. After installation, they made sure the bank was getting full value. The system, said Andres, "presents so many operation efficiencies that it makes the cost to service an account less." And its flexibility helps Fifth Third develop new products without tampering with the software, enabling "us to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace."

Operating in real-time on browser-based workstations, MortgageServ allows immediate transaction updates, task tracking and work queuing. Name and address changes, new phone numbers, and new insurance companies on mortgages can be entered immediately, giving loan administrators and originators instant account information.

Another bonus is improved workflow management. When employees log in at the beginning of the day, the system tells them what outstanding tasks need to be performed. And the system's improved editing capability helps prevent mistakes; many mistakes are corrected even as they are being typed.