Highlights:
- Nationwide migrated 1.5 million monthly credit decisions across mortgages, loans, and cards to the cloud-based FICO® Platform in just 7 months
- Results include a 50% reduction in the time to make changes to decision components, and a 30% faster process for rolling out new strategies
- Nationwide improved its Promoter Score (NPS), ranking third in the UK and first among high-street financial services providers, according to Forrester Research.
- Nationwide has won a 2025 FICO® Decision Award for Cloud Deployment
Nationwide Building Society (NBS), the UK’s third-largest mortgage provider and the world’s biggest building society, has revolutionized its credit risk and decisioning framework with FICO® Platform. 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’. Nationwide now uses FICO Platform to process around 1.5 million credit decisions monthly. This has led to a 50% reduction in the time required to update scorecards, decision trees, and other decision components, as well as a 30% faster process for implementing new strategies.
More information: https://www.fico.com/en/fico-platform
“Transforming a system of this magnitude is no small feat, but the results speak for themselves,” said 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 personalized service.”
A Transformation to Meet Modern Banking Demands
Nationwide’s migration to FICO Platform was driven by the need to mitigate the conduct risk associated with an outdated legacy technology stack, to centralize decision-making and align with the corporate strategy to transition to cloud-based services.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 centralized approach eliminated reliance on fragmented systems, enabling a smoother transition to cloud-hosted services.
“With FICO Platform, we’ve moved from a fragmented legacy system to a unified, scalable decisioning framework,” added Lawrie. “This transition has empowered our teams to implement changes faster, minimize risks, and provide customers with faster, more personalized experiences.”
Nationwide achieved significant milestones through its implementation of FICO Platform:
- Centralized Decisioning: Unified decision-making processes across mortgages, loans, and cards, enabling consistent application of policies and strategies.
- 50% Faster Policy Changes: Simplified workflows allow multiple resources to collaborate on changes, reducing change implementation time by half.
- Real-Time Credit Limit Increases (RCLI): Enabled instant credit limit adjustments, improving customer satisfaction and regulatory responsiveness.
- Enhanced Integration Options: Federated Data Orchestration supports seamless integration with external data providers, improving accuracy in affordability assessments and income verification.
- Scalable Rollout: Successfully migrated five products in 12 months, with plans to integrate overdrafts and credit line increases by 2025.
Results that Drive Impact
Nationwide’s transformation has delivered significant operational efficiencies and customer benefits. Updates to decision components, such as scorecards and policy rules, are now 50% faster, and new strategies are implemented 30% quicker, allowing for greater agility. Business teams now independently manage credit risk decisioning, reducing reliance on engineering and simplifying daily processes.
“This transformation wasn’t just about upgrading technology; it was about staying true to what makes us Nationwide — our members,” said Lawrie. “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.”
Driving Customer Satisfaction and Industry Recognition
The transition has not only streamlined operations but also significantly improved customer experience, contributing to Nationwide’s industry-leading NPS ranking.
“A 2024 report by Forrester Research put Nationwide third in the UK for Net Promoter Scores, and first among the UK’s high street financial services institutions,” said Nikhil Behl, head of software at FICO. “This shows the power of the intelligent enterprise Nationwide has built, using FICO technology.”
For its achievements, 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, 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.”
To see the full list of 2025 FICO Decisions Awards winners, check out: https://www.fico.com/en/decisionawards
