What’s next in property valuation: Increasing automation and managing risk

Spencer has been involved in transforming mortgage lending and the property transaction for more than a decade. He was CTO of the business that developed the Property Risk Hub, deployed at Nationwide Building Society, Barclays and other lenders. This business was acquired by Zoopla in 2020 and integrated with Hometrack where Spencer  became VP of Product & Technology for the Hometrack AVM and PRH.He joined CLSQ in April 2023 to lead its strategy for mortgage lenders, using the powerful combination of financial-grade property data, the ability to map that data to every property in the UK and the use of data led insurance to protect stakeholders interests.

Rob has had a 22-year career spanning financial and legal services challenging the status quo to improve the customer journey and drive business success through proactive risk management and innovation. His area of interest has always been the mortgage and property market, with a vision to change the way we buy and sell property. He has specialised in mortgage policy, regulation, underwriting, conveyancing and valuations and in 2013 he founded the Property Risk department at Nationwide, aiming to provide a sustainable valuation solution for the future.

His greatest achievement was designing the Property Risk Hub which fundamentally changed lender decisioning incorporating the intelligent use of property, environmental and legal data to link together the underwriting, conveyancing and valuation processes. This allows Nationwide to provide an instant property assessment, enabling their members to obtain a faster lending decision and proactively manage risk. This has also created the platform for modelling climate change and the work required for the CBES. Rob also sits on various Government advisory boards on topics including building safety, affordable housing, climate change, energy efficiency and retrofitting, leasehold and commonhold driving industry reform.