BATON ROUGE, La. — Wolters Kluwer Financial Services recently announced that a 110-year-old Gulf South financial services leader, Hancock Bank, has joined its AppOne platform.

With access to AppOne's network of more than 3,000 auto dealers, Hancock Bank, which has locations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Alabama, will focus on building relationships with independent auto dealers looking for finance sources within their geographic footprint, officials said.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services also indicated that it will help Hancock mitigate risk associated with auto lending. AppOne's proprietary dealer underwriting and scoring system can help lenders determine the level of risk associated with each dealer relationship.

Additionally, it provides compliant loan documents and automates the lending process, helping reduce documentation errors, officials noted.

"AppOne's technology helps us grow our business, while saving operational dollars and mitigating risk," said Skip Cotaya, the senior vice president who manages Hancock Bank's indirect lending division.

"Ultimately, this makes it much easier for us to evaluate, book and fund auto loans that fit well with our business and help us be more profitable," he added.

For dealers using the AppOne platform, the relationship with Hancock provides opportunity to connect their customers with another strong lending source. Hancock Holding Co., parent company of Hancock Bank, was named one of "The Most Trustworthy Companies" in America by Forbes this year, executives highlighted.

"Hancock Bank has built a solid reputation in the financial services community, backed by more than a century of experience," said Lee Domingue, chief executive officer of indirect lending at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

"Our relationship with Hancock is great news for AppOne's independent dealers, who will benefit from having access to another competitive lender in this region of the country," he added.