How ING Uses Agentic AI to Speed Up Mortgage Decisions

Buying a home is one of the most important financial decisions people make, and waiting for a mortgage decision can be one of the most uncertain moments along the way. Much of that waiting happens behind the scenes – gathering and checking documents, and moving cases between systems and experts.

As one of the leading mortgage providers in the Netherlands and in Europe, ING handles a significant volume of applications every day. To help them move more efficiently, ING piloted an agentic AI assistant, particularly for applications that would normally require manual assessment. The agent analyses mortgage applications, enabling faster understanding of cases, helping to explain possible outcomes, and suggesting ways to move cases forward. An ING employee always remains responsible for the assessment and makes the final decision on every mortgage application.

“With the agentic mortgage assistant, we are taking the next step in supporting mortgage applications to deliver faster decisions and clearer outcomes for customers and brokers. By analysing cases, providing insights and guiding decisions, it takes on part of the assessment work, enabling our colleagues to focus on complex applications and personal contact with brokers,” said Tom Degen, Head of Mortgages at ING Netherlands.

“For customers, what matters is not the technology itself, but getting clear, reliable answers they can trust,” said Bahadir Yilmaz, chief analytics officer at ING. “This pilot shows how agentic AI can help process mortgage applications more efficiently, while keeping decisions explainable and firmly within ING’s governance and customer‑first standards.”

The pilot will scale gradually. As it expands, the agentic AI assistant will take on more operational tasks, helping to speed up processing times and bring greater consistency in the mortgage process. The aim is to create a quicker, more personal experience for customers and brokers.  

This reflects how ING puts AI into practice: testing ideas in real settings and scaling what adds value for customers.

_{AI as a strategic enabler}

_{AI plays an important role in ING’s Growing the difference strategy and in how we improve products, processes and customer interactions. We pilot solutions in focused areas, learn quickly from real-world use and scale only those solutions that demonstrate measurable outcomes.}

_{FF NEWS TAKE:} This is a decisive step toward eliminating the operational friction inherent in mass-market lending. While many institutions remain tethered to simple generative chatbots, ING is effectively operationalizing complex decision-support logic, significantly raising the bar for industry competitiveness. We should now monitor how closely regulatory scrutiny evolves to keep pace with these autonomous agents; the real test will be maintaining strict explainability as these systems inevitably take on more sensitive underwriting tasks.