Paper settlements faded into the shadows for LegalStream last year when more than 50% of its dealings were completed on digital lodgement and settlement platform, PEXA (Property Exchange Australia).
The platform is the first piece of technology to transition property settlements online for what is now a $7.2 trillion residential property industry.
Managing Director, Joe O’Neill, speaks about how LegalStream – early adopters of PEXA – tipped the scales in favour of e-Conveyancing, driving maximum volume down the digital channel. “We had a doubling of PEXA transactions in a six-month period and it’s continuing to build – momentum really is showing! We embraced online settlements early in the game and spent that time educating our clients and staff while taking their feedback on the process to ensure everyone was signed up and ready to transact online.”
O’Neill has an impressive 18 plus years of financial services experience under his belt including senior positions in Citigroup and Credit Suisse First Boston. During this time, innovation and change were a permanent fixture in an ever-evolving industry.
“Whether it’s in property or other trading markets like commodities or equities there have been significant changes over time when transitioning from paper to digital style processes – we’ve all seen it. Each market is similar, it’s slow at the beginning with a few teething problems but eventually it takes off, just like PEXA. That’s why thanks to the experience of a few key staff members at LegalStream we stepped forward into the electronic settlement space quickly, knowing that it was an inevitable move in that direction.”
November 2017 was LegalStream’s first tilt towards 100% digital for property transactions with integration now firmly on the horizon.
“Integration with PEXA is our next step towards a fully digital future as we continue to streamline our customer’s experience. FSS (Financial Settlement Schedule) integration is something our customers can look forward to at the beginning of this year while negotiations for further integration continues.”
LegalStream has provided mortgage processing services for mortgage originators and brokers including the four major banks since 1997 and is subcontractor to more than 450 law firms. Embracing change is part of its ethos and O’Neill has this advice for any firm on the edge of change:
“The first step is to embrace it, then everything else just flows. The PEXA team is always out there willing to provide educational aid to the individual or group. They could be your first port of call. Of course, any of our clients or other financial institutions can always come to us for advice. Our clients have always seen us as the go-to people to assist them with their online settlements. A combination of us and PEXA, you’ll be ready for anything.”
To learn more about online property transactions, visit the e-Conveyancing Community.
