Suncorp bring e-Conveyancing to life
With more than 100 financial institutions now signed up for e-Conveyancing, PEXA sat down with Suncorp Process Design Manager Brett Walker to discuss the future of property transactions and how a rapid test-and-learn approach worked best in building PEXA into everyday processes:
PEXA: Thanks for your time Brett. We understand you’ve been instrumental in bringing e-Conveyancing to life within Suncorp. Can you tell us a little about the benefits you envisage for both staff and customers through a true end-to-end digital property transaction?
Brett Walker: Suncorp has invested heavily in an ongoing program of work to digitise our lending process. From a technology perspective, this has involved an industry-leading implementation of a new core banking platform. From a process strategy perspective, we are also driving a number of key digitisation projects that are complementary to the new core banking platform, of which PEXA is a major component.
We already operate a fully-paperless end-to-end lending process, and the new core banking platform (along with PEXA) gives us the capability for true one-time-data-entry all the way to settlement. Customer master data entered in the CRM system and loan data extracted at application will be the same data that flows all the way through to PEXA meaning greater efficiencies and far less room for error. While we’re not quite at full integration just yet, we have integrated our DocuPrep system, so we are on our way!
PEXA: Is there a sense of inevitability about the way property transactions will be treated in the future?
Brett Walker: The move to standardisation is gaining momentum and I think we will definitely crack it. A big part of this push has been the support of the federal and state governments. It’s probably inevitable because it needs to be, to make it work properly. The greater standardisation across processes, and the less that this is a differentiator in the market, the better the outcomes will be. Standardised processes allow us to shift the focus to delivering value for customers and providing them with fantastic products – this is where differentiation should be.
PEXA: Do you think that’s where the industry is heading?
Brett Walker: Standardising processes for all parties – PEXA, the National Mortgage Form, State Land Title Offices, banks, conveyancers, settlement agents and customers will benefit everyone. It will allow us to design our processes as a whole, removing the need for state-specific workarounds and having to adopt ‘exception-orientated’ ways of working. This will deliver excellent customer benefits, providing them with greater certainty and consistency of experience by simplifying the settlement process and reducing the margin for error.
PEXA: Can you share your experiences on how best to realise implementation through PEXA?
Brett Walker: I would advise anyone looking to adopt PEXA to test and experiment as much as possible. Enlist some pilot partners, schedule some tests and really get a feel for how it works, and then adapt your processes as necessary. As with any design project, the result may end up being quite different to your initial assumptions. From our experience, a rapid test-and-learn approach helped us to implement quickly and modify our design effectively on the go. PEXA has some great materials to help with your business case and process design, and they can also link you up with other participants so you can learn along the way. Suncorp regularly meets with other banks and conveyancers involved in the platform to discuss improvements – the better the system, the better the outcomes. It really is a whole-of-industry effort!
PEXA: Thanks Brett – we appreciate the insights!
If you would like to share your e-Conveyancing tips and experience with the network, please email Jo.Waldon@pexa.com.au
