Conveyancing "Online in 09"

We're on the home straight

Winner of the grand national electronic conveyancing cup is ....

NECS may well be heading into the home straight, but it would appear the rest of the horses are still not even on the track or only just heading into the starting gates.

The State Governments are still arguing do we enter no duplicate title or do we bet on the rising star being the xml title search?

The Commonwealth Government says they are putting up the prize money but at 100 to 1 no one takes them seriously.

Lawyers are nowhere to be seen. They're still riding on faxes with a copy in the mail. Hardly to be seen is scan and email.

The Banks should be riding on collaborative solutions but they appear to have entered their pony into the Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes or was that Bangalore?

With NECS heading into the home straight, it is really looking like a one horse race.

Like any memorable Melbourne Cup race (think phar lap 1930, jean shrimpton 1965, damien oliver 2002, makybe diva 3 back to back wins) you need all the horses in the starting gates at the same time and a close finish.

Its no point watching NECS heading up the home straight for an uncontested win. If unattended settlements is the finish line, everyone has to start getting serious.

Training starts at 4am and here are the tasks -

State Governments
Abolish the duplicate certificate of title (or at least publicly state their position on the issue)
Introduce a standardised XML Title Search

Lawyers and Conveyancers
Start using scanning technologies

Banks
Introduce and use collaborative web 2.0 solutions in conjunction with conveyancing practitioners, valuers and mortgage insurers. If banks need convincing on the merits of collarboration, a recent quote from New York Times interview with John T. Chambers, chairman and chief executive of Cisco Systems is on the mark. Q. What’s changed in the last few years? A. Big time, the importance of collaboration. Big time, people who have teamwork skills, and their use of technology. If they’re not collaborative, if they aren’t naturally inclined toward collaboration and teamwork, if they are uncomfortable with using technology to make that happen both within Cisco and in their own life, they’re probably not going to fit in here.

The reality is that old ways of conveyancing will eventually die. However, lawyers and conveyancers will move at different speeds, so industry and government should be focused on matters that will still value the old but transition them to the new. There has to be a transition from old paper technologies which have been in use in the current form more or less for the past 150 years and probably for the next 10 plus years. This means incremental changes which we have already seen such as the change from paper searches to online title searches.

Back to the racing analogy, we know where finish line is and that is unattended settlements. This is not a short sprint, but like the Melbourne Cup the race covers a distance of 3,200 metres. Just to qualify for the Melbourne Cup there are a number of lead-up races which I will cover in future newsletters.

Identity Fraud

The issue of client identity is inextricably linked in with the abolition of the duplicate certificate of title. How easy or how hard is it to perpetrate identity fraud?

Recently in the news. This example is not title fraud or mortgage fraud, but the scale of the operation and how easily it was done is a worrisome trend.

Myer and David Jones — have been victims of a $500,000 scam whose syndicate ringleaders recruited overseas students. The fraud involved fake credit cards and drivers licences, which were good enough to pass all the checks the stores have in place.

The stores, which included Dick Smith and JB Hi-Fi, were duped by fake credit cards the students used to buy hundreds of gift cards.

Melbourne Magistrates Court heard Ching Boon Goh, 25, produced the cards from an embossing machine, blank credit cards and stolen credit cards numbers from overseas. Goh, who added other identification to match the cards, recruited numerous Malaysian and other overseas students to attend the stores between October and January this year.

In documents tendered to court, Goh obtained about $226,000 from the students who bought gift cards, which are basically cash substitutes, valued between $50 and $500.

Goh then onsold the gift cards to other offenders, allegedly including Rubesch Thannanjeyan, for 70 per cent of their value.

ANZ offshores back office to Bangalore

Last month ANZ announced 248 jobs would be axed in the strategy to outsource mortgage processing and settlements to companies such as US-based Iron Horse, which specialises in processing such documents. A further 40 jobs will be moved to the bank's technology and operations centre in Bangalore.

The 45 staff working at the mortgage fulfilment office in Melbourne were told there would be "minimal" job losses as they would now have to settle mortgages from interstate.

A further 50 jobs will be created in Melbourne to cope with that increased workload, and some existing staff from interstate will be given the chance to relocate.

The news will be devastating to those directly affected by the job cuts. ANZ like every bank are looking for ways to cut overhead and streamline operations. Moves like this are unfortunate for those who jobs were on the line.

What remains to be seen is whether the moves will increase the quality of service and reduce waiting times for conveyancing practitioners wanting to book in settlements or deal with the bank's requirements.

Quick Poll. Has the ANZ waiting times to book settlements improved (reduced waiting times) or deteriorated (longer waiting times)?

ANZ whispers: 'jobs gone'

ANZ slashes another 248 jobs

Links to Articles

NECS - ECV

COAG needs dose of political Viagra

30 minutes to lodge a caveat

Banks

CBA and Westpac corner mortgage market

Banks muscle out smaller rivals in loans market

Lawyers

Conservative lawyers struggle with Web 2.0

Estate Agents

Estate agents raided by Consumer Affairs Victoria

Environment

The Cloud and the Paperless Office: It Just took 33 Years

Signatures on Electronic Documents

Paper conveyancing desperately needs to be overhauled.

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