Conveyancers in Australia have called for authorities to investigate what they describe as the ‘de-facto monopoly’ of the electronic lodgement network operator (ELNO) following a recent outage on the Jellyfish app.
In a scenario reminiscent of the latest banking outages to impact conveyancers and home movers in the UK, the Jellyfish app, which is used to sign off on settlements, experienced an outage on 16th May between 10.30am and 1.15pm.
A PEXA spokesperson explained :
“The PEXA Australian Exchange experienced a technical issue affecting mobile signing capability on Friday, May 16, between 10.30am and 1.15pm. From 11.50am the system gradually allowed customers to use mobile signing and by 1.15pm the issue was fully resolved. We estimate the disruption impacted less than 10 per cent of settlements during the period which then went on to later settle on Friday afternoon or rescheduled.”
“We take any interruption to our customer’s very seriously and worked hard to ensure that booked settlements occurred. We are grateful that customers were able to settle across Friday afternoon once the service was restored. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of service and transparency, and we sincerely apologise to any customers who were inconvenienced by Friday’s disruption.”
Critically, unlike the banking outages experienced in recent months in the UK, the Jellyfish outage did not prevent people from moving. But that didn’t prevent memberships bodies in Australia from calling on authorities to review the role of PEXA in the e-conveyancing process in Australia.
In the same week one of the three ELNO’s in Australia, Lextech, withdrew from the market, Australian Institute of Conveyancers Nationals President Michelle Hendry said the latest issue highlighted the serious consequences of a single point of failure.
It is estimated PEXA see 89% of all transactions in Australia; some 20,000 properties per month. There are two other settlement platform vying for market share; Sympli which is part owned by ATI Global, the parent of InfoTrack, and Lextech.
In his statement following Lextech’s withdrawal CEO Peter Maloney said
“While some politicians, government agencies and property professionals might demand competition as a blanket rule, the economic viability of a second ELNO simply does not stack up. From a security, platform and pricing perspective PEXA is already highly regulated and performs its tasks with remarkable efficiency and reliability.”
Sympli CEO Philip Joyce was more bullish, saying the Australian government’s efforts to introduce greater interoperability into the market would bring greater competition, describing the exit of Lextech as a ‘sad indictment of the power of the entrenched monopoly and the need for urgent government action.’
Interoperability was the focus of an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigation in 2022 amid allegations that PEXA could be hindering rival platforms from integrating with its system.
In February, the Australian senate launched an inquiry into e-conveyancing concerned about the lack of options in the market. Shadow Assistant Minister Dean Smith said the inquiry, which is due to report in September, was a chance to properly examine the issue.
In the meantime some industry leaders in Australia advocate for government intervention to promote competition and reduce the risk of a single point of failure this must be carefully balanced against the need to protect the integrity and security of the system which is classed as critical infrastructure in Australia.
One Response
And some want a similar system in the UK – don’t be ridiculous