On 17th July 2025, NivoCon returned for its second edition, hosted by intelligent messaging and fintech innovator Nivo. With over 250 attendees – nearly doubling the turnout from its inaugural 2023 event – this year’s gathering marked a significant shift in focus: AI is now front and centre.
The energy of early adopters
From brokers to lenders, technologists to innovators, the day was infused with excitement about the potential of generative and agentic AI to streamline, accelerate and humanise financial services.
Nivo used the event to highlight its latest breakthroughs and announce new collaborations, most notably a partnership with the NACFB to involve broker members as early adopters of Nivo’s AI-powered tools.
Matthew Elliott, Nivo Co-founder and CDO, opened the event with a clear-eyed assessment: “AI is complicated, uncertain and scary. But it’s also exciting.” He urged the audience to be curious and bold, qualities needed by those willing to lead on the frontier of innovation.
Visionaries at the edge of innovation
Three standout figures joined Elliott on the main stage to share their first-hand experiences with AI.
Buster Tolfree, Director of Mortgages at United Trust Bank, unveiled a compelling proof-of-concept developed with Nivo that uses AI to handle broker sales enquiries via email.
The system, trained on internal credit policies and documents, is already handling document analysis and triaging admin queries, freeing up underwriters for high-value decision-making.
“Agentic AI is the future. It doesn’t just react – it reasons, acts, and learns.”
Jason Oakley, CEO of Afin Bank, spoke about building a bank from scratch with AI embedded at its core. With a focus on underserved diaspora and self-employed mortgage applicants, Oakley stressed AI’s power to create “human augmentation”, not just cost savings.
“AI is going to be transformational, but you still need to deliver value through people.”
Jamie Stewart, CEO of brokerage Binq, offered a radical AI-first business model. He claimed AI had enabled him to launch faster, remain leaner, and deliver more consistent customer outcomes.
“Customers often prefer AI as it’s impartial, fast, and always available.”
Panel insights: mindset over machinery
A panel session chaired by Alex Hammond (Square1 Media) explored whether AI can handle complex cases traditionally reserved for humans. Opinions diverged. Oakley maintained that complexity still required manual underwriting, while Tolfree argued that AI can manage complexity, it’s just “another data point” if we adjust our mindset.
There was consensus, however, on AI’s role in fraud detection, process acceleration, and enriching customer relationships. “AI shouldn’t replace brokers,” said one panellist, “but brokers who use AI will outperform those who don’t.”
Nivo’s AI vision and the £10bn opportunity
In a pivotal keynote, Matthew Elliott shared the roadmap for Nivo’s own AI strategy. From replatforming data infrastructure to launching a “universal assistant” for brokers and lenders, Nivo has committed to a full-stack AI transformation.
The mission is simple: solve the £10bn admin problem in UK financial services.
“There are over 300,000 people doing repetitive, manual tasks in this industry, and AI can help,” Elliott said.
For Nivo, the key to unlocking the potential of AI is to think of it like a human that can help with any job in a frontline financial services team, rather than a piece of software.
By partnering early with organisations like UTB, Binq, and Afin Bank, and offering a freemium model, Nivo demonstrates how AI can be embedded incrementally, through messaging platforms, document verification tools, and customer service bots operating across email, WhatsApp, SMS, and secure apps.
Nivo’s freemium approach is also intended to democratise access to the technology, enabling businesses, teams, and individuals across the industry to experiment, learn, and recognise the transformative potential AI holds for their operations.
Industry voices: experimentation, adoption and human touch
An Innovators’ Panel chaired by Nivo’s George Lee featured leaders from Aldermore and Connect Mortgages.
Rob Linfoot (Aldermore) shared how AI is being deployed to double productivity by removing process friction, while Liz Syms (Connect) emphasised AI’s ability to empower brokers by increasing speed and improving due diligence.
In an interview with Elliott, Allica Bank CEO Richard Davies provided a grounded take, stressing the importance of experimentation: “There’s no playbook. We’re figuring out where AI makes most sense based on KPIs and metrics.”
What brokers want from AI
A NACFB-led panel of brokers, including Sam Norris (Grand Union Finance), James McGregor (P10 Financial) and George Eleftheriou (Real Finance), highlighted the shifting culture in broking.
Norris noted that younger brokers are embracing AI with passion and urgency. McGregor said that AI tools now feel relevant and useful, where older tech didn’t. Eleftheriou pointed out that AI enhances rather than replaces broker work.
Nivo CEO Michael Common reiterated that it’s not just about technology. It’s about building bespoke solutions collaboratively with brokers and lenders alike.
Final word: insight from Formula 1
Rounding off the day, Formula 1 Analyst Ruth Buscombe drew parallels between racing and finance, showing how AI and data analytics drive fast, high-stakes decision-making. The message? The winning teams aren’t afraid to act on insight quickly.
Conclusion: AI’s first real step in financial services
NivoCon 2025 proved that AI isn’t a future concept anymore. It’s a present reality being tested, refined and implemented across the UK’s finance ecosystem.
The collective message from the day: start small, pick a use case, and move fast. From transforming admin workflows to augmenting human interaction, AI is here to assist not replace.
As Kieran Jones of the NACFB put it: “A broker won’t be replaced by AI but might be replaced by a broker who uses AI.”
And that could well apply to the entire financial services industry.
