PEXA platform gains momentum

The first transaction by a practitioner was performed by lawyer Nino Galgano, who successfully lodged a caveat on a Victorian title.

“This is a major milestone for PEXA as we proudly welcome Nino Galgano to the platform,” PEXA chief executive Marcus Price said.

“Practitioners joining the platform today further strengthens our network in preparation for transfer and financial settlement functionality later this year."

Mr Galgano joined the PEXA platform as part of the Electronic Conveyancing Victoria (ECV) migration, along with property lawyers and conveyancers from Melbourne metro and regional Victoria.

Yesterday, PEXA confirmed that Western Australia has also joined the platform, following a major piece of integration and collaboration with Western Australia’s Land Registry, Landgate.

The first transaction on a Western Australian title – a discharge – was completed by Westpac on Wednesday.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a shareholder in the platform and the first lender to begin using PEXA – which eliminates the need for settlement documents and manual payments – in June last year.

CBA head of mortgages Clive Van Horen told Mortgage Business the lender has already settled 600 loans through the platform.

“Over the next 18 months, progressively more banks are coming online with more categories of transactions, which will really change the customer experience,” Mr Van Horen said.

“Settling a property is normally quite a stressful experience for customers – the exchange of cheques and title and so on – so digitising that like the stock exchange dematerialised years ago, I think that is going to change the mortgage game,” he said.

The platform is now used by all four major banks, while Suncorp, Teachers Mutual and Bankmecu have joined in the last month.