Pennymac adopts AWS Nova Sonic assistant and modernises Plaisse

Pennymac Financial Services expanded its agreement with Amazon Web Services in June 2026 to add AWS generative AI tools. The lender developed a natural-language virtual assistant using Amazon’s Nova Sonic foundation model and began migrating parts of its Plaisse mortgage servicing platform to the cloud.

The virtual assistant combines speech understanding and generation to conduct phone conversations. It can identify potential loan opportunities during calls, send applicants links to online applications and schedule priority callbacks at any hour. Pennymac said human loan officers will keep final approval authority on applications.

The Plaisse migration moves selected servicing functions to cloud infrastructure and will integrate with the virtual assistant to support borrower interactions and servicing workflows.

Jim Follette, Pennymac’s chief digital officer, described the assistant and Plaisse updates as “the next stage of a deliberate, long-term strategy to deliver a superior, seamless journey for our borrowers.” The company said the changes are intended to replace fragmented legacy processes with a conversational borrowing experience.

In Europe, ING piloted an AI agent for mortgage applications in March 2026 and is extending it to live use. That agent gathers and checks documents, moves cases between systems and outlines possible outcomes; humans continue to make final assessments before issuing decisions.

UK Finance commented that new borrowers expect real-time notifications and seamless online transactions and argued technology should preserve safeguards while improving speed and transparency.

A Zopa and Juniper Research survey estimated generative AI could save 187 million labour hours and potentially displace about 27,000 jobs by 2030, largely in back-office roles. Commerzbank has said it will cut roughly 3,000 jobs, or about 8% of its workforce, while investing €600 million in AI over four years and forecasting roughly €500 million in annual additional value from 2030. A Lloyds Banking Group survey found 59% of financial institutions reported AI-driven productivity gains in the 12 months to 2025, up from 32% in 2024.

Pennymac did not specify a timeline for full deployment of the assistant or completion of the Plaisse cloud migration.