United Trust Bank (UTB) has announced a collaborative relationship with technology provider, Aprao, to promote the benefits of digital solutions in the development finance sector.

The specialist bank will now able to accept and consider new development appraisals submitted via Aprao.

UTB, which provides funding to SME house builders and developers, said it receives high volumes of enquiries and appraisals submitted in a “wide variety of formats”.

Aprao is an online platform for the creation and management of property development appraisals, and the cloud-based appraisal platform enables property developers to increase their speed, efficiency, and accuracy when packaging new funding proposals.

“We welcome this collaborative relationship with Aprao and the adoption of appraisal software which enables a consistent and accurate approach to the evaluation of development projects,” UTB head of property development, Adam Bovingdon, commented.

“Although many of our customers are using very good self-built appraisal tools, we also recognise that appropriate digital solutions can improve productivity and responsiveness for new development finance proposals.”

Aprao CEO, Daniel Norman, added: “As a relatively new platform in the ‘PropTech’ space, it's important for us to build trust with property professionals. By offering a free trial and detailed training videos we can make it incredibly easy for developers to start using the platform right away. Most of our customers are up and running the same day they sign up, testing and benefitting from the system before ha having to commit to anything.

“An open and collaborative relationship between lenders, developers, and ‘PropTech’ platforms is important in ensuring that digital solutions serve all parties, recognising their needs and helping to simplify and accelerate the property funding process.”

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