I have been working to deliver improvements to the way that UK property market works now for over a decade, prior to which I spent 15 years looking at business process management across a range of predominantly financial service organisations.

To give a little more detail on what all of that involved, in April 2014 I created EDM Mortgage Support Services as a subsidiary business of EDM Group focused on the UK Property Market. I developed the EDM Property Risk Hub, which delivered a framework for lenders to improve the way in which they assess the property offered as collateral on a loan. It was quickly adopted by Nationwide Building Society, Bank of Ireland and Barclays Bank, and the business was eventually sold for over £40M to Hometrack.

After that, I took over as CEO at TM Group. The business provided over 1,000 conveyancers with an ecommerce platform that provided them with data and associated property searches for use in the property transaction process. Our goal was to integrate that service with a new product, mio, which was aimed at estate agents and consumers, to create a digital space through which all parties could share information around the status of a property sale. The business was sold for over £90M in July 2023 to Aurelius. After that, I was ready for my next challenge so when I was asked to join PEXA as UK CEO, I jumped at the chance. I had already identified it as an exciting business which has the ability to truly transform the UK home buying and selling process.

What is the main premise of your role at PEXA?

As UK CEO, I am responsible for the development, launch, performance and operation of the UK business, reporting to the group’s global CEO in Melbourne and the UK board chair.

How does PEXA operate and what is its role in the UK mortgage market?

PEXA is a cloud-based technology solution, which offers a simpler and more secure way of transacting property for all parties. 90% of all Australian property is transacted using PEXA, and the platform automates the simple process elements to enable legal professionals time to focus on the matters which count and need their specialist expertise. As a result, PEXA enables most transactions that go through its platform to complete within 30 days.

We have built a similar concept in the UK that is entirely bespoke to the challenges of this market. Initially we have been entirely focused on the remortgage proposition, and are actively working with all stakeholders to make it a reality, easing the burden on them while improving efficiency for the borrower. So far, we have been making significant progress with NatWest and Metro Bank as well as Shawbrook Bank and Hinckley and Rugby Building Society, and have built an entirely new payment rail dedicated to property transactions – PEXA Pay. Currently, 30% of sales fall through here so our mission is to reduce this. We are also acting to improve the overall collaboration in the industry with the establishment of the Future Property Transactions Group. We have brought together some of the biggest names in the industry to facilitate productive discussions on how we can implement technology to drive efficiencies for the benefit of all.

If there was one thing you would change about the market, what would it be?

I would like to change its ongoing reliance on legacy tech. Conveyancers are understandably resistant to change because they are already working to very thin margins and yet remain under colossal amounts of pressure, but the back-end infrastructure that they are currently relying on remains inefficient and siloed. It creates much more work for them and all stakeholders, contributing enormously to the issues in the transaction process.

I have been advocating for years now that giving all professionals access to the same information relating to a property transaction will cut down on this with a consequential drop in the sheer volume of queries from consumers too.

We use data rooms to handle the transactions of a range of assets currently, including companies, so there is no reason why we cannot replicate this with a simple data room concept in the conveyancing industry. This would ensure all parties are aware of the status of a transaction and helping to reduce or even eradicate the continuous status update requests. This is exactly what PEXA does, helping orchestrate certain conveyancing activities to ensure that systems follow an agreed process and avoid the need to go at the speed of the slowest cart. It’s this that will free up conveyancers from continual administrative processes and allow them to continue in their roles as trusted advisors, focussed on providing great value services to their clients which is what they truly care about.

 What has been the most interesting moment of your career and what did you learn from it?

There have been plenty of interesting moments and I have been lucky to have such a variety of experiences. Definite highlights include successfully deploying the EDM Property Risk Hub to Nationwide Building Society, successfully navigating the management of a business through the pandemic, the sale of TM Group in 2021 for twice what it was valued at in 2018 and also being recognised as one of the 40-best companies in the UK to work for. I’m a great believer in the need to keep learning, from both your successes and your failures – when you stop learning it’s time to move on!

In five years, what do you foresee will be the biggest difference in the market compared to today?

I genuinely believe that, in five years’ time, all conveyancing will be completed online, with all parts of the process being shared with all other parties. If we can take away the pain involved in moving house then perhaps we can go back to more regular house moving, with the associated economic benefits that offers everybody.