Nationwide Building Society, the UK’s third-largest mortgage provider, has partnered with FICO, the analytics software company, to enhance its credit risk and decisioning framework.
Nationwide now uses the FICO Platform to process around 1.5 million credit decisions each month, which it says has reduced the time required to update scorecards, decision trees, and other decision components by 50 per cent.
The transformation involved moving to a single, cloud-hosted system for decisioning across mortgages, credit cards, personal loans and current accounts, delivering what Nationwide refers to as ‘credit-risk-as-a-service’. The move also saw Nationwide benefit from a 30 per cent faster process for implementing new strategies.
“Transforming a system of this magnitude is no small feat, but the results speak for themselves,” explained Andrew Lawrie, tech lead for credit risk at Nationwide Building Society. “We didn’t just move mortgages, loans, and cards to the FICO Platform; we reimagined how we make decisions. Now, changes that used to take weeks can be implemented in days, and our customers are seeing the benefits with faster, more personalised service.”
Nationwide says its migration to the FICO Platform was driven by a need to mitigate the conduct risk associated with an outdated legacy technology stack, to centralise decision-making and to align with the corporate strategy to transition to cloud-based services.
By leveraging FICO Platform’s orchestration capabilities, Nationwide incorporated external data providers into its workflows, enhancing decision accuracy and delivering tailored customer experiences. This centralised approach also eliminated reliance on fragmented systems, enabling a smoother transition to cloud-hosted services.
Leaving legacy behind
Nationwide’s business teams now independently manage credit risk decisioning, reducing reliance on engineering and simplifying daily processes.
“With FICO Platform, we’ve moved from a fragmented legacy system to a unified, scalable decisioning framework,” Lawrie added. “This transition has empowered our teams to implement changes faster, minimise risks, and provide customers with faster, more personalised experiences.
“By moving to a unified decisioning platform, we’ve made it easier to deliver smarter, faster decisions that genuinely improve our members’ lives. Whether it’s helping someone secure their first mortgage or offering quicker, more accurate approvals, we’re building a foundation that keeps our members’ needs at the heart of everything we do.”
Since the transition, Nationwide Building Society has won a 2025 FICO Decision Award for Cloud Deployment.
“Nationwide’s project reflects the precision and expertise required to migrate from legacy systems while maintaining continuity for customers and operations,” said Erin Stillwell, EVP of payment partnerships at Blankfactor, one of the FICO Decision Awards judges. “Their success in implementing a scalable decisioning platform is a testament to their commitment to operational excellence and customer satisfaction.”
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