Bank Blog

There has been some confusion over Financial Institution requests for a copy of a transfer of land when the settlement is proceeding in PEXA.

Financial Institutions have clarified that in the scenarios below they will make a request to the Incoming Practitioner to send a copy of the Transfer of Land regardless of whether the transaction is to proceed in PEXA or paper:

• Change of ownership, i.e. a divorce where title is changing from two names to one
• Head Transfer or Subsequent Sale, i.e. property sold to one party who on sells to another
• Nomination of new or additional purchaser

When the Transfer document is in status: In Preparation the necessary details are viewable and a simple screen print of this information can be provided as per the example below:

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Bank Blog. This month I’ll be discussing some exciting industry milestones, navigating the end of year rush and updates to the Workspace Summary Screen.

The Western Australian compliance date is in effect. I’d like to acknowledge the collaborative efforts of both practitioners and financial institutions in reaching this milestone. The state’s industry members have been meeting over the last 12 months for symposiums in readiness. It’s fair to say there were issues to work through at the initial events, but the progress made has been outstanding and wonderful to see first-hand. The seventh WA industry symposium was held recently, and they’ve become an ideal forum for all parties to communicate and align workflow towards a common goal – achieving the best outcomes for buyers and sellers.

December is always a very busy month for conveyancing. The banks are conscious of this and have prepared accordingly – organising their resources to meet the demand. I’d like to share a couple of guides to assist practitioners as well – Transfer checklists and Discharge Authority preferences, developed specific to individual banks. A quick tip: I recommend you review the Bank Transfer checklist to see where the DA should be sent for your Mortgagee on Title. Ideally, upload it to Dochub and tick the checkbox “DA Sent”.

• Bank Transfer tips
• Discharge Authority preferences

I’ve heard positive feedback on the new Workspace Summary Screen deployed in Release 9, particularly around having the Transfer Guidelines built in. The Guidelines are designed to facilitate a smooth settlement for all parties and by having these indicators more visible in the platform, knowledge and adherence should continue to progress.

Payout figures are a key focus for the Banks and new functionality will arrive in the near future to further drive efficiency in this space. Presently, I’m pleased to note that there has been steady progress in performance over the last three months.

Well done on your efforts in 2018 – I wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday period. Thanks for your feedback and I’ll see you for the next Bank Blog at the start of the new year.

Welcome to the fifth edition of the Bank Blog. This month I’ll be discussing the Transfer Guidelines, current banking campaigns as well as PEXA and industry news.

Utilising the conversation tool is key and I’d like to provide some insight on how the network is tracking in this space. The chart below covers the month of October and highlights performance in the roles of Incoming Proprietor for practitioners and Incoming Mortgagee for the banks.

As per Guideline 18a, the Mortgagee on Title should submit the final payout figure no later than 10am on settlement day. I’m pleased to share that this is being adhered to in over 80% of Workspaces presently, with the goal to drive towards 100%.

The major banks recently participated in a “spring clean”, aiming to drive further adherence to three key Guideline areas we often get feedback on:

• Using the tick box to tell practitioners when you’ve received loan documents
• Entering the loan payout figure by 10am on the day of settlement
• Confirming the loan proceeds by 10am on the day of settlement

The financial institutions recognise the impact of Guideline adherence to the practitioner and homebuyer/seller and it’s fantastic to see the commitment to improving the settlement experience for all.

In a positive change being rolled out in PEXA’s Release 9, settlement rollover time is being reduced from 90 minutes to 30 minutes. This will drive a faster settlement turnaround and reduce waiting times.

Further, I’d like to discuss a recent post on Community, which asked why banks may be reluctant to settle prior to 2pm. As noted in the thread, some lenders outsource their work and to ensure settlement funds are cleared into their account from their lender for settlement a later settlement is preferred. We understand this can be frustrating and we are continuously working with the banks to help improve settlement processes.  In some of the tools we are providing to the large volume transactors, we can see that the bulk of settlements are booked with banks at 2pm, and when we look at the 2.30pm slot there are very few bookings.

The banks are now working hard to prepare for Western Australia’s 1 December milestone and industry collaboration will ensure a smooth transition for all. I recommend you make use of the resources available to help you prepare. We’ve published an eligible documents guide, are holding transfer tutorial webinars and host additional help material on Community.

If you have questions or topics you’d like discussed or feedback you’d like to share, please comment below – and keep an eye out for the next Bank Blog.

Welcome to the fourth Bank Blog. In this edition, I’ll be discussing settlement rollover, recent collaborative initiatives in the network and Transfer Guideline performance.

We’ve received messages about banks not addressing settlements which have ‘rolled over’ as first priority. For example, if two settlements are scheduled for 3.30pm, with one originally booked at this time and one having rolled from earlier in the day, there has been feedback about the already-rolled settlement not always being actioned first.

We understand that this is frustrating for all parties and would like to provide some context. Presently, it is difficult for the banks to see which settlements have rolled – currently, they simply see which settlements are due at a certain time, whether originally slotted at that time or having been rolled.

This makes it tricky for the banks to distinguish between rolled/non-rolled settlements and attend with heightened urgency. This is a feature PEXA is committed to building into the platform to manage these situations and avoid Workspace stress and delay. Stay tuned for an update.

It’s also important to reaffirm that the date of settlement is vital, and the banks are aware that changes have major impacts on Workspace participants and customers. Movement occurs only in exceptional circumstances and the banks are working to eliminate this.

I’d also like to share a positive initiative that recently occurred in South Australia. Financial institutions alongside PEXA visited practitioner offices in Adelaide’s CBD to exchange ideas and feedback around the settlement process. These endeavours are so pleasing to see and help to encourage co-ownership of the digital settlement process.

As always, I hope you found this useful, please leave any questions you may have below and keep an eye out for the next Bank Blog.

Welcome to the third edition of the Bank Blog. This month I’ll be sharing my thoughts on change within our industry in relation to the financial institutions, as well as addressing key upcoming events across the network.

A Community member recently started a discussion about workload for the financial institutions and how this is managed. Settlement volumes, even in the digital era, continue to be a focus area for the banks and while there is always room for improvement, I’d like to share some background to help put this into perspective.

The current number of operations staff using PEXA is surprisingly high. Some of the larger banks have several hundred signers set up in addition to several hundred PEXA users (not all these people are working at the same time). These teams can either be centralised or disbursed across different locations and offices. In addition to the bank’s operational PEXA teams, they’ve also employed project and change management teams to ensure the new processes and procedures can be implemented and continually refined across all key areas of their bank.

When a change is made in relation to a financial institution, it might affect the retail bank, the business bank, product teams, operations, support centres, settlement booking lines, bank payment systems and treasury teams, relationship managers and the branch network. Given the size of some banks and the number of departments which can be impacted, changes can take some time to be approved and implemented.

I wanted to share this detail in the Bank Blog, to help put into context the enormous amount of change underway in these organisations – similar to the adaptation practitioners have had to undertake.

Further, the banks are looking at new, innovative ways to support and streamline customer activity. Prospective initiatives include a process change of entering loan proceeds when loan documents are sent to the customer and a technological development involving automating both payout figures and the acceptance of invites. It is worth noting that both these efficiencies are dependent on the upload by the practitioner of the total funds required to settle. Progress in the loan document space will help combat the issue of settlements rolling over time and the banks are prioritising this as an area of focus.

Outside of the immediate settlement process the banks have had to turn their attention to the New South Wales Land Registry Services (NSW LRS). LRS is in the process of bulk converting their paper certificates of title (pCT) to electronic certificates of title (eCT) on behalf of the Registrar General – this all has to be done by the end of September 2018. As part of the transition to 100% digital, the major financial institutions have agreed with NSW LRS, to lead the way with the bulk conversion of all NSW paper certificates of title in which they are the first registered mortgagee, to electronic certificates of title (eCT). This is a significant step in the industry transition to e-Conveyancing. FAQs for the Bulk Conversion can be found here.

Most of the banks operation on a multi-state, if not national basis.  As such they have also been working on the 1 October mandate in Victoria which is fast is approaching and will capture all combinations of transactions available in PEXA. Ahead of this important date in Victoria and to support a smooth transition, we recommend you make use of resources like Land Use Victoria’s Customer Bulletin and the various support materials on Community. Just as the banks work to refine their processes, it’s important for practitioners to ensure they’re ready to go ahead of time. Continued collaboration between both parties will ensure the smoothest possible transition.

The banks are always striving to improve their service, processes and engagement with the market, so much so some of the banks are participating in a “spring clean” in September and October, with an aim to make strides forward in three key Guideline areas:

• Using the tick box to tell practitioners when you’ve received loan documents
• Entering the loan payout figure by 10am on the day of settlement
• Confirming the loan proceeds by 10am on the day of settlement

If you have questions or topics you’d like discussed or feedback you’d like to share, please comment below – and keep an eye out for the next Bank Blog.

Welcome to the second edition of the Bank Blog. This month I’ll be covering more common bank-related themes raised on Community, ongoing initiatives and some positive collaboration in the network. 

We recognise that the late entry of payout figures is not ideal. As per Guideline 18a within the Transfer Guidelines, the Mortgagee on Title should submit the final payout figure no later than 10am on settlement day. While financial institutions are always striving to improve performance, we can share that this metric is being adhered to in over 85% of Workspaces involving one of the major banks. There is a concentrated effort to drive towards 100% in this space. Provision of payout figures by 10am are challenging in more complex scenarios involving partial discharge or substitutions/swaps, linked or simultaneous settlements, where there is last minute activity on the loan account, cases where the discharge authority is received late or when last-minute changes are requested by the customer. Sometimes these conditions are the cause of delay but not evident to all participants in the workspace. 

In addition, there have been queries about completing the surplus funds details at the same time as payout figures. The surplus figure frequently changes and is not always processed by the same team as the one which finalises the payout figures. Work is being done to develop greater coordination between the various teams within the banks to ensure more streamlined completion of the FSS. 

Questions have been received about banks not accepting the Discharge Authority via the Doc Hub file upload feature. This is the most efficient way of sending/receiving the Discharge Authority as it links it to the actual Workspace and the good news is that most financial institutions prefer this channel. You can find a list of their Discharge Authority preferences here on Community. There are plans in place to build greater visibility of the sending and receiving of the DA in the context of the overall progress of the transaction and alignment to Guidelines. We’ll keep you posted on this and other developments to help you track the progress of dependent tasks across the workspace. 

Confirming the date of settlement is vital, and the banks are aware that changes have major impacts on Workspace participants and customers. Movement generally occurs only when loan documents have not been received, and settlement is imminent. It’s important to note that the conversation tool is ideal for communication in instances like this, whereby it is constructive to discuss why settlement may roll-over or alter and the reasons behind this. 

I want to share with you that the major banks can receive over 800 conversations per day, with approximately 75% of these marked as high importance. While we understand the need to escalate matters when close to settlement, please consider marking messages as high importance only on the day of, or day before settlement. 

We are aware that there are a small number of FIs that are not yet open for transfer transactions. We are aware of their business reasons and unfortunately aren’t always able to share these publicly with you, but we are actively working with these FIs to ensure they are fully prepared ahead of compliance timelines across jurisdictions. 

I’d like to highlight a wonderful proactive initiative by Westpac, who have been meeting with practitioner firms to discuss the settlement experience. The visits provide practitioners with a platform to discuss pain-points and help the banks to better understand and refine processes, which is key during the ongoing digital transition. From a bank perspective, the insights led to process change. An example of this is Westpac now endeavouring to create mortgages upon Workspace creation – an action which is beneficial for the practitioner. 

If you have questions you’d like discussed or feedback you’d like to share, please comment below – and keep an eye out for the next Bank Blog. 

Welcome to the Financial Institutions Blog. My name is Marielle Yeoh, Chief Financial Services Officer, PEXA.  I’ve been working with the banking sector here at PEXA for the last 5 years and it’s been quite a journey. I’ve seen first hand the outstanding progress made so far and I firmly believe the best is yet to come. I look forward to sharing the experiences ahead with you.

This is the first edition of a monthly update I’ll be sharing on Community and I am looking to cover some of the common bank related themes raised on the Community.  I will also share insights on the work banks are doing to collaborate with practitioners.  It should come as no surprise that collaboration is key to the success of your network.

We have heard about the impact of rolled settlements and I wanted to share that the automated rollover of settlement time is being shortened from 90 minutes to 30 minutes. This is planned for a future platform release – we’ll update you on all the details closer to deployment.

We have received feedback about locking workspaces 24 hours prior to settlement.  This concept has been discussed at length and has other broader customer implications that must be worked through.  For example, customers under this model may not have access to their banking facilities for that 24-hour period prior to settlement and this concept just doesn’t have broader industry agreement. However, options are being discussed and considered and we will keep you posted.

We hear you – last minute signing by all parties is stressful and not optimal for anyone. We can share with you that banks are focused on refining their high-volume processes to get earlier visibility of key tasks leading up to settlement. PEXA is also committed to working on functionality to assist with this moving forward.

The updated Transfer Guidelines have been live since May and were revised with thanks to the Industry Digital Transformation Working Group. All parties in the e-Conveyancing process were represented, the team comprised of banks, practitioners and PEXA representatives across the various states – another great example of the industry transforming together!

To ensure we help the banks continually improve their performance against the guidelines we monitor adherence to the Guidelines and work closely with the banks to provide regular and structured reports and feedback.

In the spirit of industry collaboration, the state of WA has continued to impress me.  The 5^th WA banking symposium was held last month at AICWA’s offices, with banks, conveyancers, panel lawyers and member bodies attending. These instances of peer-to-peer teamwork are key to better understanding one another during the ongoing digital shift.

Look out for this blog each month on our Community – we hope this and future instalments are helpful.