Competition reform in eConveyancing back on the table

THE findings of a government review to restart the interoperability reform between Sympli and PEXA will be considered by regulators later this week.

The Australian Registrars National Electronic Council (ARNECC) is set to meet to discuss the future of interoperability reform following a review by the Queensland government.

Both Queensland and NSW Registrars pushed back against ARNECC when it announced in June that it was pausing work on the program to end the effective monopoly on eConveyancing held by PEXA and CBA.

The state governments made the call after the NSW Productivity Commission suggested consumers were missing out on $89m of savings annually because of a lack of competition in Australia’s $300-plus million eConveyancing market.

Currently, 99 per cent of all digital transactions in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT use the PEXA exchange process.

Rival operator Sympli – a joint venture between legal software provider ATI Global Limited and ASX Ltd – cannot seamlessly operate within the existing network platform and is calling for the playing field to be levelled.

Sympli CEO Philip Joyce welcomed news that talks were to resume, repeating his call for reform that would save conveyancers – and ultimately consumers – millions of dollars a year.

“We are really pleased that Queensland has concluded its review into restarting the interoperability program,” he said.

“We look forward to a commitment to restart this program as soon as possible for the benefit of consumers and small business – only one player benefits for the pause and that’s PEXA,” he said.

A PEXA spokesperson said: “ARNECC suspended the interoperability program, stood down its project team, and cancelled all interoperability meetings.

“PEXA is seeking clarity from regulators about the implications for the currently regulated deadline to deliver interoperability in December 2025.

“We have consistently raised concerns with the industry regulator ARNECC and governments regarding the unintended consequences of the proposed approach to introducing interoperability.

“Those concerns, which arise from unintended impacts on users’ business processes, uncertainty of scope, unrealistic timeframes and the additional risks and vulnerabilities that would have been introduced into Australia’s critical digital settlements system, have been voiced by other industry participants, including the major banks.

“PEXA believes that true innovation will flourish if the current interoperability model is replaced with one that supports new business models integrating with the PEXA platform, while providing their own integration to the systems of banks and conveyancers. This is supported by many current users of the platform.

“PEXA remains committed to working constructively with regulators, industry participants, and governments to foster an ecosystem that benefits Australian home and property owners.”

Previously, a December 2025 deadline had been set to open up eConveyancing to full competition.

But in a June, ARNECC said issues raised by the banking industry “beyond the remit of state and territories to resolve” meant it was halting the program. That was quickly followed by the announcements from the Queensland and NSW that they would tackle the issues behind the decision to halt the program.

They said they would be “jointly and proactively exploring options to resolve the issues facing the Program with a view to recommending the design, build and testing of interoperability functionality as soon as possible.”

The Productivity Commission is also pushing for reform.

A study it published at the beginning of July made 18 recommendations to ministers, regulators and those with responsibility for competition in eConveyancing. 

“These have a short-term focus on progressing the interoperability reform, and a longer-term focus on developing an effective and appropriately resourced regulatory framework,” the report says.

“The current eConveyancing market is not effectively competitive which is demonstrated by the high levels of market concentration and the incumbent ELNO earning high profits. 

“Competition is beneficial to both the eConveyancing market and other related markets, such as the market for mortgages and refinancing. 

“Competition results in lower prices, better quality, increased innovation, greater choice of product offerings, and increased prosperity.”

The report goes on to say that “price control arrangements have allowed ELNOs to set prices at levels that do not reflect their underlying costs. 

“It is therefore unlikely that consumers have fully benefited from lower costs due to the shift to eConveyancing.”

The significant productivity benefits were estimated to be $89 million annually, according to Deloitte Access Economics 2018.

“That end-user consumers have not shared in the significant productivity benefits that eConveyancing has produced is unfortunate given eConveyancing services are government-mandated in some jurisdictions,” the report notes.