Pennymac adds Nova Sonic voice AI and moves servicing to AWS

Pennymac Financial Services announced on June 16, 2026 that it has expanded its agreement with Amazon Web Services to include generative AI tools and a cloud migration for its Plaisse mortgage servicing platform. The lender developed a natural-language voice assistant using Amazon’s Nova Sonic foundation model and will modernise Plaisse by moving it into the AWS cloud.

The Nova Sonic-based assistant combines speech understanding and speech generation to support real-time, human-like voice conversations on customer calls. The system can identify potential loan opportunities, send online application links and schedule priority callbacks at any hour. Pennymac retains human loan officers who make the final credit decisions.

Plaisse will be migrated to AWS as part of a wider project to replace older systems and reduce manual steps in servicing. The company says the cloud migration aims to shorten response times for borrowers and centralise servicing workflows.

Jim Follette, Pennymac’s chief digital officer, described the change as “changing how mortgages are made.” He framed the AI assistant and the Plaisse modernisation as the next stage of a long-term strategy to deliver “a superior, seamless journey for our borrowers.” The firm described the goal as “replacing fragmented legacy processes with an immediate, conversational borrowing experience.”

In Europe, Dutch bank ING moved an AI agent for mortgage processing from pilot to wider deployment after a March 2026 trial. The agent collects and checks documents, routes cases between systems and explains likely outcomes and next steps; a human employee reviews the AI’s findings and makes the final assessment before approval.

UK Finance noted that newer homebuyers expect fast digital services and said technology should preserve safeguards while providing speed and transparency. A survey by Zopa and Juniper Research projected generative AI could save about 187 million labour hours and displace roughly 27,000 jobs by 2030, mainly in back-office roles.

Commerzbank announced plans to cut about 3,000 jobs as it increases AI investment to €600 million over four years, expecting roughly €500 million in additional annual value from 2030. Lloyds Banking Group’s survey found 59% of financial institutions reported AI-driven productivity gains in the past 12 months, up from 32% the year before.

Pennymac’s deployments reflect a wider adoption in banking of AI for routine tasks and customer interactions while keeping humans responsible for final credit decisions.