ANZ BANK delaying settlement

[sjdlaw]

We have just had ANZ bank again delay a setlement, this time messaging us at 10:55 (11am settlement) to say there is a $16.40 shortfall. They have then not adjusted their figure so i cant amend our figures by $16.40 to allow the settlement to go through.

Banks consistently delaying settlements with zero accountability to the customers is appalling, and is making PEXA a difficult process when it shouldnt!

What is being done to force banks to have figures accepted and uploaded well prior to settlement?

I read so many posts similar to this one, however no accountability or adequate responses from financial institutions. 

[danielR]

You're spot on, ANZ Bank are taking us all for a ride. Pexa is all about benefiting them and their bottom line. They don't care at all about delaying their customers settlements, they take no responsibility for their own bankers, and expect us to chase and chase them when they don't answer their phone or even check messages on Pexa in a reasonable timeframe.. I don't understand why everything has to be left to the last second, why can't they "source" the available funds a couple of days prior to settlement so we can all balance the financials and sort out any shortfall in time. They can then simply wait to "authorise" the sourced funds at the last minute if they insist. It doesn't seem that complex to me.

[TJ]

Hey @danielR,

I'm not going to make excuses for ANZ, what I will say is I know there are a number of great people working on improving ANZ's current processes and making transactions with them smoother, both here at PEXA and within ANZ.

I also want to assure you that PEXA is not all about "benefiting us and our bottom line" - I hope there would be a number of Community members who could attest to that. PEXA is a network business and we wouldn't be a successful one if we were inwardly focused in the way you suggest. 

We do care about delayed customer settlements; on multiple occasions I've seen the support team scrambling to make sure settlements go through, hours after knock off, when parties, both bank and practitioner, haven't done what was required. As I mentioned above we do have people dedicated to improving the processes of banks; it's not something we ignore or something we don't think is a priority. If you want to know more about what our team is doing with the banks to improve process, I suggest you check out the Bank Blog.

[danielR]

Hey TJ,

Thanks for the reply.

I can only go off my personal experiences and what others are saying, and everyone i speak to seems to be in agreeance that the ANZ Bank are failing badly. Personally, i've had almost every settlement with them fall over. They constantly blame their banker and refuse to communicate requirements to them, instead they incorrectly believe that is our responsibilty. They simply do not answer their phones within 40 minutes, usually longer. They are the slowest at even checking messages on Pexa, and they don't update sourced funds, payouts or sign off until the very last minute, if prior to the settlement time at all. You couldn't possibly understand how sick of sitting on hold to them for the hour before settlement i am to simply ask them to sign off. 

It's admirable you are sticking up for them, but they have major issues with Pexa that don't seem to be improving. At least banks like Bendigo Bank who had some intitial teething problems seem to have sorted it out, and are very accessible last minute if required.

[sjdlaw]

Hi TJ,

I dont beleive PEXA is at fault with regard to bank delays, however i am over hearing about how banks have too many settlements on pexa and cant cope. They had the same amount of paper settlements! 

[danielR]

Hi sjdlaw,

I'm not blaming Pexa at all for ANZ Banks poor performance. I think Pexa is a wonderful platform if it used properly by the banks, but i don't believe ANZ are using it how it was intended.

Couldn't agree more that they should be able to handle the Pexa settlements if they could handle the paper, which is why i believe they have cut resources so much to improve their bottom line, that they can't handle the Pexa workload. 

[nakatos]

Following on from @TJ, there is considerable work being undertaken by ANZ, in collaboration with other banks and solicitors/conveyancers.  The comments mentioned above are also the exception and not the rule.  From a loan payout perspective we are updating payouts before 10am for over 80% of our files & loan proceeds for over 98% of our files.  In majority of cases we are looking after either surplus or shortfall and as a result need to be the last party to sign off on a file.  This means that we are dependent on all other parties completing their tasks on time and well ahead of time.  Analysis shows that for 50% of our settlements the Conveyancer/Solicitor has not updated the Total Funds Required to Settle prior to the day of settlement and when they do, it is amended several times over.  This figure prevents us from working ahead of the settlement date and results in having to touch the file multiple times and process the file multiple times in our systems outside of PEXA.    Whilst there is definitely room for improvement, the improvement is required from all participants and until the majority are doing the right thing at the right time, there will continue to be missed settlements.

[sjdlaw]

Nakatos, 

Are you serious? Banks not updating figures until moments before settlement and not notifying us of a shortfall, and banks signing in the morning and then not checking the file for the rest of the day is the norm!

PEXA makes settlements easier, there should be no reason why banks cant be more efficient than they were in the paper settlement process.....but they arent

[TJ]

Just a reminder to everyone that this space works best when we collaborate together. @sjdlaw, @danielR you've raised some very valid concerns which I've passed onto our FI team, concerns I'm sure @nakatos has taken onboard.

Please be conscious though that @nakatos is here on Community to collaborate with you all to improve the experience for the common customers that you both share.

An "Us vs Them" mentality is something we'd like to avoid, it's not going to lead to the best customer outcomes - it's the collaborative efforts we've already seen that has made the biggest difference.

[danielR]

Hi TJ,

Obviously my comments have come after numerous bad experiences, and after i've tried to explain the issues to the ANZ Bank over and over again without response.

It's hard to collabarate when the ANZ Bank won't address the issues with you and think the best approach is just to throw out made up statistics trying to make themselves look good and us look bad.

I'd be more than happy to provide you with the Pexa workspace ID of every ANZ Bank matter i have had and you can make your own judgement on facts, rather than their own "analysis". You can see the lack of responsibility they take for their own bankers, thinking it's our responsibility to chase them up when they haven't done their job properly, how slow they are to see messages and how late they leave things for yourself. I'll even show you our telephone records showing the constant outrageous wait times.

I've offered up ideas such as they should chase their own bankers for their own outstanding requirements, and why don't they source the available funds days early so we can balance the financials and obtain any shortfall in time and just authorise the sourced funds last minute if they insist.