PEXA 2019/20
Financial Year in Review
pexa.com.au 1
Better together Olivia Austin, People Experience Partner. “At PEXA, we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional experiences for our people. That is why in the last 12 months, we’ve added a suite of nationleading policies to create an environment that best supports our team. We firmly believe that when your people are happy, your members will be happy too. Our top priority is providing a flexible, inspiring and nurturing workplace, backed by policies that help our people do their best work and grow during their time at PEXA. Our people are truly at the heart of what we do.” George Polus, General Manager, Product – Exchange. “PEXA is a world-first, brought about by the incredible collaboration between land registries, revenue offices, banks, industry bodies and the legal and conveyancing community. The foresight this group has shown in transitioning the country to digital property settlements has been critical this year in delivering resilience to the property market during the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re proud to have played a role in providing the country with a robust property settlement solution.”
Lisa Dowie, Chief Customer Officer. “The last 12 months have undoubtedly been challenging for all of us. We recognise the impact that the bushfires and COVID-19 have had on our members and, in fact, all Australians. To support the community, we have partnered with Small Business Australia, joining the Buy Local movement, to assist small businesses nationwide, many of whom belong to the PEXA community. We are fully dedicated to doing what we can to help our members and the wider community recover and prosper.”
2 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
Linda Thai, PEXA Partner, Victoria. “As a PEXA Partner, I love working closely with our members to help them get the best out of the PEXA platform. While we’ve not been able to meet members face-to-face during COVID-19, this hasn’t stopped us from staying in touch with them while we are #togetherapart. It’s so fortunate that our members are still able to keep their businesses running, helping Australian home buyers and sellers settle property digitally, and I feel so privileged to be a part of that.” Marty Karpowicz, Product Manager – Member Experience, Exchange. “PEXA is built on feedback for, and by our members. The enhancements we’ve introduced to the Exchange are tested with our members and adjusted based on the feedback we receive. We will never stop adapting and improving – because our members are at the heart of our product, and ultimately, the Australian home buyer and seller are the beneficiaries.” Sam Roberts, General Manager, Digital Experience. “We believe in empowering our members to have the right digital technology capabilities to support innovation and improvements within their own businesses. We continue to invest, learn and improve our API capability. With now over 26 integration partners using our APIs, our members are benefitting from an optimised and more efficient user experience, they are saving time and speeding up processes.” Emily Hua, General Manager, Product and Commercialisation. “Supporting the industry with safe, secure digital settlements extends beyond the PEXA platform. PEXA Key has provided that extra level of security for more than 23,000 Australian home buyers and sellers in FY19/20. We want to do more to safeguard what, for most Australian’s, is the most significant purchase of their lives.” pexa.com.au 3
Transforming property experiences for everyone Our values Innovate for good.
A message from PEXA We’re proud to be a home grown, world-first for property settlements and we are committed to providing the best possible experience in support of our members and ultimately, the entire industry. We are honoured to have been able to help members adapt to new digital ways of working, as they help 20,000 families a week settle their properties – keeping the $7.1T residential property sector ticking. I am humbled by the resilience demonstrated by the entire industry, as we work together amidst these uncertain times. We look forward to our continued work with you and the broader industry in the months and years ahead. Alan Cameron Chairman, PEXA
Better together.
This report highlights the remarkable results industry has achieved together over the past 12 months. At PEXA, we’ve continued to focus on enhancing our platform and service based on feedback, introducing new technologies that are designed to help our members and the network. It’s truly been a pleasure to work with our members and industry as we continue to innovate for the future. I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our members and industry for the trust and dedication they have given to PEXA through FY20. We will continue to work in partnership with you as we navigate our way through what will come around the corner, together.
Make it happen. Make it count.
4 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
It’s certainly been a testing FY20. As we’ve faced the bushfire crisis and COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been wonderful to see Australians and our sector rally together in support of those impacted. Glenn King CEO, PEXA
pexa.com.au 5
at a glance OUR COMMUNITY
OUR MEMBERS
20,000 families
99.9
every week settle on their homes through PEXA
907 billion
75
of all property transactions nationally now completed via PEXA
22%
79
%
74+
63+
Member Effort Score of 50 is considered ‘excellent’
Net Promoter Score of 50 is considered ‘excellent’
increase in refinance settlements completed on PEXA between FY19 to FY20
A world-first in property, we’re proud to partner with industry, delivering the home buyers and sellers of this country a fast, safe and efficient digital property settlement solution. But the job’s not done yet! Each year we take the feedback we receive from our members and the broader network and we use it to prioritise system enhancements and bring in new features and functionality. In FY19/20, that represented more than 260 platform enhancements over the past 12
PEXA Exchange
NPS
51
91%
of staff feel they are part of an inclusive team
%
increase in transfer settlements completed on PEXA between FY19 to FY20
• A total of 264 platform enhancements were introduced within the PEXA platform, 88% of which were based on member feedback and collaboration.
We’re supporting Australians.
• More than 1.3 million home buyers and sellers benefitted from a safe and more efficient property settlement experience. • During COVID-19, PEXA developed technologies to support the rapid digitisation of lodgements that previously had to be done physically.
• A secure app for practitioners and their clients to communicate trust or bank account details, mitigating today’s most prominent cyber threat, email phishing. • Home buyers and sellers, including organisations, can also track their settlements and refer to useful ‘what to expect’ articles and checklists to assist with their settlement. • More than 23,000 Australian home buyers and sellers used PEXA Key while settling their homes.
6 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
We also want to make property transactions safer – and not just the part we all call ‘eConveyancing’. With the launch of new apps like PEXA Key, we’re striving to protect common vulnerabilities within the property exchange process such as email phishing, helping keep property transactions safe. “Love PEXA!” – SA firm
• More than 2.4 million transactions, equating to $453 billion in value were completed safely via the platform.
PEXA Key
Settling property?
months alone. Our goal is to make the property settlement experience one that is effortless, fast and reliable, both for our members and the clients they represent.
employee engagement score
calls answered within a minute
MES
%
%
86%
transactions processed safely through PEXA to date
in property value transacted via the platform to date
OUR PEOPLE
availability
5.4 million $
EOFY June 2020
Innovate for good
“Best way to settle matters” – VIC firm
• PEXA’s technological infrastructure scaled with demand to continue to support the robust delivery of service, ensuring that settlements could still proceed during these unprecedented times.
“Easy and convenient. Less work in terms of settlement.” – PEXA member
“PEXA Key was really helpful to track our settlement process.” – buyer/seller pexa.com.au 7
264 platform enhancements delivered Up to 13 million clicks eliminated monthly through APIs – saving time and boosting efficiency for our members
PEXA Plus Marketplace • Provides new capability for Victorian and New South Wales practitioners to compare prices and order title searches, with two available providers.
“Easy to navigate and I love the calendar.”
• Enhanced the Marketplace user experience with a more seamless flow for ordering title and property searches. The focus has been on building out the integration with one of our providers, Equifax, to “Makes enrich the product offering with new property and settlements easy council certificates for our and less time Victorian members.
consuming.”
Coming soon: New Financial Settlement Summary (FSS) The evolution of the PEXA platform continues with the revamp of the settlement function as we remove unnecessary steps to make the process as seamless as possible. One of the key areas of focus is the Total Funds Required to Settle (TFRS). The new FSS Summary (currently in pilot) replaces the manually entered value with an automatically calculated one based on the inputs entered into the Workspace (e.g purchase price, cheque directions). This enables all parties to match the sources and disbursements they need to provide, streamlining the user journey. We will continue to test the new FSS with members, with a rollout scheduled for later this calendar year.
8 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
“The enhanced Financial Settlement Summary provides an actual and easy summary of the financials, which is clear and concise to read and understand.” - PEXA member
pexa.com.au 9
The PEXA Platform is integrated with 26 organisations across Australia, as well as the RBA, Land Registries and state revenue offices
PEXA Planner Developed in consultation with Australia’s largest financial institutions, PEXA Planner enables high settlement volume organisations to evaluate and streamline work on matters that are yet to be finalised. 93% of all bank transactions on PEXA are processed through Planner. “We’ve seen a 20% increase in our sign on time metrics” – Large law firm
“We’ve had a 6% increase in on-time settlements thanks to PEXA Planner.” – Major bank
PEXA Tracker PEXA Tracker delivers high settlement volume organisations with greater transparency across all Workspaces, allowing client services teams to provide clear and timely updates to home buyers, sellers and brokers.
Lenders Mortgage Insurance offering PEXA supports the extended property industry with value added solutions that provide time savings and efficiencies in processes for Lenders Mortgage Insurers.
Standalone Discharge API for Panel firms Launched in June 2020, the Standalone Discharge API is PEXA’s first ‘Experience API’. It provides a holistic transaction experience, taking PEXA members to the end of the Standalone Discharge transaction with just one click.
10 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
pexa.com.au 11
Member Experience 14,000 pieces of member feedback received through our in-platform feedback tool 9% increase in PEXA member firms registered to transact online
Our members are at the heart of everything we do and our goal is to provide the highest standard of member experience. To ensure this, we pride ourselves on listening to and acting on feedback, providing members with the tools to simplify the property exchange process and by collaborating with industry to develop new features and enhancements. As we transitioned to working remotely during COVID-19, providing resilience to the property industry was paramount. With so much uncertainty, it was critical that PEXA
could provide confidence to its members and the broader industry in its ability to continue facilitating the safe and efficient settlement of real property transactions. That included supporting an influx of first transactors in both South Australia and Queensland while also supporting the Victorian and New South Wales land registries in transitioning additional document types online, removing the need for people to attend busy settlement rooms and lodgement counters.
Peer-to-peer recognition We launched a recognition program to celebrate firms who’ve been identified as leaders by their peers. Each quarter, we announce the top firms who have been highly rated by their peers via inplatform surveys. They are awarded with a personalised certificate of recognition.
Congratulations, ABC Con
veyancing
your peers have rated you as one of the top performers this quart er
Training our members Our Member Training & Capability Team were named finalists in two categories of the Australian Learning Impact Awards 2019. This year the team hosted 113 face-to-face training events and 52 webinars, supporting more than 12,000 PEXA users.
Award finalists We are proud of our Member Operations Team, with two of our leaders and the entire cohort named as finalists in three categories of the upcoming Customer Service Institute of Australia (CSIA) - Australian Service Excellence Awards.
12 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
pexa.com.au 13
Industry Events We partnered with 22 industry bodies across the property industry
We love meeting and sharing insights with our members and the broader industry. In FY19/20 we: • Hosted and attended more than 80 industry events nationally • Engaged with 14,000 PEXA members and broader industry representatives nationally • Hosted four member open days across
Australia, welcoming more than 400 attendees into our PEXA offices. • Reimagined our 2020 PropertyX Connect Series – in lieu of our in-person events, PEXA produced a virtual thought leadership series, engaging with our member communities across five active states. It was also an opportunity to connect and support our members during these challenging times.
“Thank you PEXA. Quality member event with thought provoking content and variety of industry speakers.” “I feel that PEXA is engaged, supportive and genuinely ‘cares’ about us as practitioners. I treasure the relationship I have with your staff and company.” “I really enjoyed the virtual event and as it was recorded, I was able to go back at a later date and rewatch things I missed.”
“This presentation felt very real and was smoothly integrated. A good way to deliver future updates between in-person events.”
14 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
pexa.com.au 15
Security $32.8 billion in settlement value completed with PEXA Projects 56% increase in usage year-on-year
We are proud to be industry’s trusted online lodgements and settlements platform. The security of Australia’s $7.1T residential property industry is our highest priority, both
for our members using the platform, and Australia’s home buyers and sellers. When dealing in people’s homes, there should be zero tolerance for risk.
• Cybercrime costs Australian businesses $29 billion each year. • More than 5.4 million property transactions have been securely transacted on the PEXA platform, valued at $907 billion. • Our Security team monitored more than 30,000 user accounts for unusual activity on a daily basis. • We shared security best practice advice with our members via 23 videos and articles.
• In 2019, phishing was the primary method used by hackers to scam Australian businesses. • We launched PEXA Key to help protect our members and their clients against email phishing fraud. • PEXA Key provides a secure, encrypted communication channel for payment directions (typically bank or trust account information) to be securely shared between practitioners and their clients, avoiding risks associated with email.
Sandra Shaw, a Registered Conveyancer at Schreiber Conveyancing Pty Ltd, shares how her firm uses PEXA Key to support a strong security portfolio.
• PEXA Key comes with a Secure Communication Guarantee to provide protection for buyers and sellers, ensuring that the details submitted are displayed directly in the PEXA platform.
16 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
pexa.com.au 17
Diversity & Inclusion
Supporting our community
Leading Policies
We are dedicated to improving the lives of all Australians.
“It’s critical that we embrace and empower diversity in the workplace. A ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t cut it in business anymore. Today’s workforce wants an environment that enables their careers to thrive, while also supporting their lives at home. We’re committed to advocating for change, driving progress and supporting inclusion – because that’s what our employees and their families deserve.”
Enhancing the lives of people in our community and enabling the PEXA team to give back in a meaningful way, is part of what makes us proud to be a home-grown, Australian technology company. Supplied by Homes for Homes
Proudly supporting
Glenn King, CEO, PEXA We launched a suite of nation-leading policies designed to support the needs of a new generation of families, including new measures on parental leave, superannuation and childcare. PEXA’s People Experience team was recognised as one of HRD’s Innovative HR teams and shortlisted for the Australian HR Awards - Best Workplace Flexibility Program. PEXA was also recognised as one of AFR’s 2020 Top100 Most Popular Graduate Employers.
PEXA in the Community • Our response to the bushfires: – $100,000 donation to the Red Cross Appeal – Our employees donated $8,000 to WIRES and Wildlife Victoria – We offered confidential counselling services to impacted PEXA members
Our policies
• Major Sponsor of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation’s gala fundraising event, Starry Starry Night 2019 • Our people supported 87 different charities and raised more than $18,000 in donations through PEXA’s Workplace Giving Platform.
x4 WELLNESS DAYS
SIX MONTHS’ PAID PARENTAL LEAVE FOR PRIMARY CARERS AND THREE MONTHS’ PAID LEAVE FOR SECONDARY CARERS
FREE COUNSELLING, WELLNESS COACHING AND FINANCIAL COACHING for all employees and their immediate families
The Big Issue International Vendor Week PEXA WILL CONTINUE TO PAY SUPER CONTRIBUTIONS DURING UNPAID LEAVE TAKEN BY PRIMARY CARERS IN THE FIRST 12 MONTHS
18 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20
CHILDCARE ASSISTANCE OF UP TO $1,000 PER MONTH, PER CHILD
x10 DAYS LEAVE TO SUPPORT THOSE EXPERIENCING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Packing Buddy Bags
Oz Harvest
Foodbank WA
See more at www.pexa.com.au/csr#csr-pexa-in-the-community
pexa.com.au 19
Thank you for your continued support. From the PEXA team.
20 PEXA Financial Year in Review FY19/20