Introduction
Retail loan origination has entered a decisive new phase. QKS Group defines Retail Loan Origination Systems (RLOS) as end-to-end digital platforms designed to automate and manage the origination lifecycle of retail credit products, including personal loans, auto loans, credit cards, mortgages, education loans, and Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) offerings. RLOS platforms enable banks and financial institutions to digitize customer onboarding, perform real-time credit checks, configure loan products, apply risk rules, generate documentation, and execute approvals all through a seamless, customer-centric interface. These systems integrate with core banking, credit bureaus, identity verification tools, and payment gateways to ensure speed, compliance, and accuracy. Furthermore, modern RLOS platforms leverage cloud-native deployment, AI/ML-based risk scoring, e-KYC, and automated decisioning engines to reduce turnaround time, minimize defaults, and deliver frictionless lending experiences across web, mobile, and assisted channels.
The 2025 SPARK Matrix™ for Retail Loan Origination Systems (RLOS) reflects a market where AI-driven decisioning, open-banking connectivity, and API-first orchestration are now fundamental. Lenders no longer judge platforms on digitization alone; they evaluate adaptability, intelligence, and real-time responsiveness.
This year’s matrix shows clear winners among vendors that invested early in composable architectures, intelligent underwriting, low-code ecosystems, and embedded lending capabilities. Among them, Axe Finance emerges with one of the strongest leadership narratives, supported by exceptional advancements across AI, configurability, and omnichannel origination.
This analysis explores the market trends, positional shifts from 2024 to 2025, detailed vendor dynamics, and what retail lending can expect moving into 2026.
Market Trends & 2025 Insights
The 2025 RLOS landscape underscores five macro trends shaping the future of consumer lending.
According to Akhilesh Vundavalli, Principal Analyst at QKS Group, “The Retail Loan Origination Systems landscape is rapidly advancing, powered by cloud-native, API-first platforms that ensure seamless interoperability with core banking systems, credit bureaus, eKYC services, payment gateways, and fintech partners. The next wave of innovation is anchored in AI-enabled underwriting, smart document processing, real-time affordability checks, embedded fraud detection, and price personalization, allowing lenders to deliver precise, risk-adjusted decisions at scale. Omnichannel onboarding and automated compliance are further reducing friction and accelerating time-to-approval. Additionally, open banking and embedded finance are reshaping distribution models, bringing lending directly into e-commerce, POS systems, and BNPL ecosystems. With the integration of AI, blockchain, and low-code configurability, next-generation RLOS platforms are positioning themselves as strategic engines of speed, inclusion, and borrower-centric retail credit experiences.”
1. Real-Time Data Aggregation & Open-Banking Maturity
Open banking continues to gain global traction, U.K., EU, India, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Singapore are all strengthening their data-access frameworks. Retail lenders now prioritize origination platforms that can:
- Aggregate bank account and financial-behavior data instantly
- Support region-specific API standards (PSD2, CDR, AA framework, OBIE, etc.)
- Deliver automated affordability checks and fraud scoring
Real-time data ingestion directly translates to higher technology-excellence ratings, reinforcing why vendors with strong API gateways and open-banking stacks dominate the leader’s quadrant.
2. Low-Code/No-Code Configuration Becomes Non-Negotiable
Lenders increasingly want business users, not IT teams, to:
- Design onboarding journeys
- Modify scoring models
- Adjust workflows to match new regulations
- Launch new loan products on demand
Platforms that enable rapid orchestration through visual low-code builders see faster adoption and stronger customer-impact scores.
3. Gamified Onboarding & Digital Borrower Engagement
Borrowers are responding positively to intuitive, gamified flows, progress bars, nudges, rewards, and contextual education modules. Digital-first lenders report:
- Higher completion rates
- Fewer abandoned applications
- Stronger borrower satisfaction
This trend aligns with broader UX expectations across fintech.
4. Embedded Lending & POS Ecosystem Expansion
Banks and fintechs are increasingly embedding retail credit within:
- E-commerce flows
- Point-of-sale terminals
- Merchant dashboards
- Digital wallets and super-apps
RLOS vendors now compete on API modularity and rapid ecosystem integration.
Position Changes: 2024 vs 2025
Several changes stand out in this year’s matrix.
Finastra Enters as a New Leader. Finastra’s major shift from strong contender to leader is powered by a global customer footprint, cloud-native, composable lending components, strong alignment with open-banking environments, and integrated workflows across retail, consumer, and SME lending. Its modernization strategy is now paying off at scale.
Vendors present in 2024 but absent this year include FICO, Oracle, Nucleus Software, and Trustt. This could reflect strategic recalibrations or slower innovation relative to peers. New entrants: VeriPark and Lentra have entered as strong contenders, driven by differentiated strengths in customer experience (VeriPark) and cloud-native retail lending (Lentra). SBS makes a strong leap into the leader quadrant. It was absent last year, but emerges as a leader with composable architecture, X-Ray AI risk engine, and strong broker-portal capabilities. Although its footprint remains largely European, the technology narrative is strong enough to push it into the top quadrant.
Vendor Positioning Analysis (2025)
This year’s matrix clearly separates vendors based on adaptability, AI maturity, and ecosystem readiness.
Leaders: Broad Coverage + High Innovation + High Market Impact
The 2025 leaders quadrant includes: Axe Finance, Finastra, Infosys Finacle, nCino, Wipro Gallagher, TurnKey Lender, Pennant Technologies, Newgen Software, and SBS.
Axe Finance: Axe Finance’s ACP platform stands out in the 2025 SPARK Matrix for its strong blend of AI-driven decisioning, zero-code configurability, and composable architecture. Its intelligent scoring engine combines ML models with rule-based logic, enabling precise and fast credit assessments. The platform empowers business teams to quickly modify workflows and launch new products without IT support, while offering seamless omnichannel onboarding and built-in compliance for KYC, AML, and fraud checks. This level of agility, combined with modular deployment options, makes ACP adaptable across retail, SME, and corporate lending.
Axe Finance delivers measurable impact through rapid implementations, scalable automation, and a strong compliance backbone, qualities that consistently resonate with Tier-1 banks and large regional lenders. Its focus on AI, workflow flexibility, and operational efficiency places it in a clearly differentiated leadership position for 2025, making it one of the most strategically advanced platforms in this year’s evaluation.
Finastra: Cloud-native, modular, and global. Its strong partner ecosystem boosts time-to-market advantages for large and mid-tier institutions.
Infosys Finacle: A mature, fully integrated digital-lending suite with strong AI-driven underwriting, global deployments, and best-in-class workflow orchestration.
nCino: Continues to dominate with intelligent automation, analytics, and multi-product lending capabilities across markets.
Wipro Gallagher Solutions: A robust digital-lending suite backed by Wipro’s technology stack and global delivery.
TurnKey Lender: AI-powered, modular, and strong among fintech and new-age lenders. Rapid deployment remains a major competitive edge.
Pennant Technologies: pennApps Lending Factory brings low-code lending factories, agentic-AI workflows, and deep data intelligence layers.
Newgen Software: Now a leader, with a unified low-code ecosystem and strong adoption across emerging markets.
SBS: Powerful AI risk scoring, broker portals, and composable architecture, an impressive leap into leadership.
Strong Contenders: Solid but Not Fully Differentiated
The 2025 contender’s quadrant includes: Fiserv, Jack Henry, Linedata, Q2, VeriPark, Lentra, Baker Hill, Software Group, Blend, LendFoundry, and Intellect Design Arena. Most have strong regional customer bases or robust compliance capabilities, but lack either the AI depth of leaders,global footprint, orfull composability.
Aspirants: Focused, Regional, and Narrow
The 2025 Aspirant quadrant includes: Origence, Comarch, and Argo. These platforms provide targeted capabilities and serve stable niches but must broaden AI features, open-banking capabilities, and workflow depth to evolve upward in the matrix.
What Will Shape Retail Lending in 2026
1. GenAI & Agentic Automation Become Standard: AI will expand from decisioning into:
- autonomous workflow execution
- contextual borrower guidance
- dynamic product customization
- predictive risk models
2. Open Banking Becomes the Primary Data Source: More markets (ASEAN, GCC, LATAM) are expected to formalize open data regimes. RLOS platforms will need deep, region-specific integrations.
3. Embedded Lending Matures: Lenders will plug origination into merchant networks, BNPL environments, and ecosystem super-apps.
4. Low-Code Ecosystems Scale Up: Business users will increasingly build and modify lending workflows on their own, reducing IT dependency.
5. Localization Becomes a Competitive Advantage: Platforms that support multi-country compliance, languages, KYC norms, and regulatory reporting will lead global expansion.
Conclusion
The 2025 SPARK Matrix reinforces that retail-loan origination is accelerating toward an era of AI-native, API-driven, low-code, and composable architectures. This year’s leaders, especially Axe Finance, Finastra, Infosys Finacle, Newgen Software, Pennant, nCino, and SBS, prove that leadership now requires more than digital maturity. It demands intelligence, adaptability, and ecosystem readiness.
Contenders remain competitive but must accelerate innovation, while aspirants will need to broaden scope and embrace AI-first design.
As 2026 approaches, the RLOS market will reward vendors that convert emerging technologies, agentic AI, open-banking intelligence, and embedded ecosystems into tangible, measurable transformation for lenders and borrowers.