ANZ moves to Bangalor India

[ email message ]

Unfortunately this is where the issue lies, our settlement prep dept is in Bangalor India, this is why they do not guarantee the 10 day turn around time, but will try to get this done within that timeframel, I will keep on their backs.

 

I will get approx 3 days notification therefore it should give you ample time to book in settlement,

 

Thanks Bruce and apologies for the delay,

 

(name withheld)

Business Banking Manager 
Australian & New Zealand Banking Group Limited 

Identity and the Land Registry

For the past 150 years, Land Registries^ have not conducted or insisted on identity checks in respect to the Register. How many titles are registered in false names? How many titles are registered in names where the proprietor is long dead. No one knows. And how does it matter? 

With anti-money laundering legislation and the advent of electronic conveyancing , identity has become a front and centre issue. Especially with the likelihood of the elimination of the duplicate certificate of title, the right to deal with the land is the central issue.

Today's rules are quite simple

1. The right to deal with the land is you can produce the duplicate certificate of title
   
2. The right to be registered on title is premised on production of the duplicate certificate of title and a transfer of land executed by the registered proprietor
   

Under an electronic conveyancing regime, the first premise is the duplicate certificate of title will not exist. (If this is not to be the case, what's the point to all this?) Legislation will have to be passed, which states, "upon this date the duplicate certificate of title will no longer be required to convey title" or words to that effect. The right to deal with land will solely be adduced by the entry on the Register. 

The rules under an electronic conveyancing regime

1. The right to deal with the land is you can prove you are the person who is registered on the Register; and
   
2. The right to be registered on the Register is an electronic transfer executed by the person, or his agent, who is registered on the Register
   

The right to deal with the Land

A vendor or borrower will no longer have to produce the duplicate certificate of title.

The right to deal with the land might be a combination

• Security number issued to the registered proprietor 
• as is the current practice with shares, a Shareholder Reference Number (SRN)
  
• administratively, the SRN is sent to the address shown on the Register
• the SRN is not publicly searchable
• Proof of Identification
  
• What standards will be set?
  
• Who is qualified to carry out the test?

Proof of Identification (POI) 

What standards will be set?

FTRA (or 100-point) Standard

It is widely acknowledged the FTRA (or 100-point) Standard is an inadequate standard.

NECS and the Land Registries agree on this point.

The FTRA (or 100-point) Standard, although widely known and used, is more than 20 years old. It was devised before the development of desktop publishing and the wide availability of inexpensive, high-quality colour printing. It is generally considered to be from an era when identity fraud was much less of a problem generally and to Land Registries than it is today. While still a useful general-purpose standard, it is considered by Land Registries to be insufficiently rigorous for deterring fraud in land title transactions.

Unless the client is known to the conveyancer, production of identity documents does not cut it. Especially in an age where every student, from the age of 15, for the past 10 years or more has been dealing in false IDs.  How hard is it, or how easy is it, to produce false identity documents. Google "false ID" and GET YOUR FAKE ID HERE! screams out in capital letters. Scan, photoshop, print and laminate.

The FTRA standard is simply inadequate for an electronic conveyancing regime. 

**The Gold Standard

The Gold Standard recently developed by the Commonwealth Government as part of its National Identity Security Strategy (NISS) goes at least one step forward in solving the POI issue. And that is adding verification. A key principle of the Gold Standard is POI credentials and other information provided by the applicant should be verified with the relevant issuing authority or other authoritative source.

Which raises the question what are the procedures for document verification? Which also begs the question that at present, there are no systems which allows conveyancers to verify clients' credentials. In fact a conveyancer calling any government agency to verify a client's credentials will be met with a barrier of privacy concerns.

Which also raises the question are lawyers and conveyancers qualified to identify clients? Not beyond asking for  a copy of drivers licence or other identification.

The Gold Standard envisages enrolling agencies would enrol a person to a a Gold Standard (only once). This individual becomes a known customer. As a result, once an individual has been enrolled, this could be used to streamline enrolments with other agencies (ie Land Registries and applied to land registry transactions).

Who is qualified to carry out the test?

From the above analysis, It is clear that lawyers and conveyancers are not qualified to carry out POI tests, beyond attesting to knowing long standing clients.

It cannot be left to lawyers and conveyancers to carry the responsibility and liability for identity checks (at least not along the lines of the present FTRA 100 point standard)

Government and the Land Registries need to implement as part of its EC system a point of entry for lawyers and conveyancers to conduct verification checks^^ on credentials presented to them. 

Ipso facto, Land Registries are therefore hamstrung until government itself implements the essential elements of the NISS which covers verification checks, being what I believe is the minimum standard for electronic registration systems. 

Is there an alternative?

The government is concerned about the least possible call upon Torrens Assurance Funds for compensation in the event of registration fraud.*  I would suggest that in the absence of a system that permits lawyers and conveyancers to simply carry out verification checks (as iterated in Principle 7 of the NISS), the government will need to extend the Torrens Assurance Fund to cover and indemnify for losses due to identity fraud.

** NISS Gold Standard Paper 

Brett Hayton - 247legal

---

* The principles of Client Identity Verification are collectively intended to provide:

• users of NECS with confidence in the authenticity of the transacting parties they are dealing with
  
• transacting parties with confidence in the use of NECS by their representatives
  
• the community with confidence in the integrity of the land title registers
  
• the least possible call upon Torrens Assurance Funds for compensation in the event of registration fraud.
  

Source NECS paper

^ Exception - Lands NSW now has an identity check using the FTRA 100 point standard

cf. SA - The instrument must be witnessed by a person who either knows the executing party personally or is satisfied as to her or his identity.

Qld - A mortgagee intending to take a mortgage over freehold land as security for a debt or liability, must, prior to lodging a mortgage instrument for registration, take ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure that the person who executed the instrument as mortgagor is identical with the person who is, or who is about to become, the registered proprietor of the lot or the interest in the lot. Under the Land Title Act 1994, a mortgagee takes ‘reasonable steps’ if they comply with the practices included in this Manual. In essence, these practices reflect the ‘100 points of identification’ provisions under Commonwealth legislation governing certain financial transactions, namely, the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 (FTRA) and the Financial Transaction Reports Regulations 1990 (FTRR).

NECS National Project Team 

Client Identity Verification (CIV) Standard – a purpose built standard should be developed based on current practices in financial institutions under the Anti-Money Laundering legislation (March 2009)

^^ Identity Security and the National Document Verification Service

Impersonation - an article by bruce schneier

Lending Landscape in Australia post GFC

Compared to the pre GFC era, there is very little competition for lending in Australia. After mergers and acquisitions by the Big 4 their market shares stands around 90%

1. CBA (BankWest)
   
2. ANZ
   
3. NAB
   
4. Westpac (St George & RAMS)
   

Thereafter, the alternatives stand as

• Bendigo / Adelaide Bank
  
• BEAT
  
• heritage building society
  
• ING
  
• Homeloans Ltd
  
• AMP
  
• IMB
  

As the big banks get bigger, perhaps the differentiater for clients is service. Service by brokers and service by the lender pre and post settlement. 

Convert your fax into a scanner

Elecronic conveyancing doesn’t have a fixed definition.

NECS decribes it as an efficient and convenient way of completing property based transactions and lodging land title dealings for registration. In others word conducting a financial settlement electronically and registering land registry instruments electronically rather than with paper forms lodged over the counter.

247Legal has attempted to define electronic conveyancing - the system of exchanging sales & mortgage documentation and property data electronically between vendor & buyer, agent & lawyer, brokers & banks, government & land registry from point of sale to contract to settlement without (or with minimal) printed documentation.

Or perhaps electronic conveyancing can be as simple as being able to exchange documents electronically.

To be able to exchange documents electronically, by email for example, you have to be able to convert a paper document into an electronic document. The most common method is to use a scanner and the most common format is a PDF.

For the past 30 years, the fax has been the most common method for exchanging documents. If it has not yet happened, soon scanned to email documents will overtake the fax, which is common sense. But fax technology continues to dominate the industry, particularly with the 4 major banks. This is despite headlines for example that the approval times blow out at one major bank because its fax machines are being clogged (Herald Sun March 10, 2009). The banks' back office operations must be drowning in faxes, as testimony by the conveyancing industry provides in legions of stories of lost faxes.

 

 

Fax technology is redundant. Or it should be

If your office still does not own or use a scanner, 247Legal has done some bench testing on scanners and scanning options that might help you to cross over.

The bench test is a 15 page contract of sale using an enterprise and desktop scanner as well as a fax to email service. The scan test was timed from placing the document into the scanner or the fax

Toshiba Estudio 4511	37 seconds	$14,315
Fujitsu duplex fi-4120C	1 minute 55 seconds	$1,400
Mbox fax to email	57 seconds** being the time spent to send the fax ** the Brother MFC fax scans to memory, then sends and it may be several minutes before you receive the email with PDF attachment	$10 per month plus cost of local call

The Toshiba I would describe as the mothership won hands down. But for the price of a small car, you want to be pumping out volume. But then again this is a true multi function device, for a fully networked print, copy, scan solution.

The Fujistu is a great compact desktop scanner capable of scanning duplex. Having used this model for several years, the author can attest to its usefulness and reliability. The current model is the 6120, is faster than the 4120 and comes bundled with a full version of Adobe Acrobat which is a significant cost saving in itself.

If you are not ready to make the investment in a scanner of your own, there is an alternative that can transform your existing fax machine into a scanner. By subscribing to a fax to email service likembox.com.au, any business can convert their current fax machine to a scanner. Take any document, feed it into your fax, dial your mbox fax number, and voila a minute or two later, the sent fax will be back in your inbox as a "scanned" PDF. And the bonus is, because mbox is a fax to email service, all your inbound faxes can be delivered to you as email as well. Mbox provides an effective low cost alternative to buying a dedicated scanner. Its not quite retiring the fax, but its giving it a new lease of life. The basic mbox service costs $9.95 per month

Conveyancers and lawyers are in the paper business. Today, the scanner is a basic tool of trade. If you are not ready to buy, consider subscribing to a fax to email service to gain the benefits of the paper saving. Or if you can buy, buy the best your can afford. It will pay for itself many times over and it is part of the matrix that we call electronic conveyancing.

eDischarges: First element of eConveyancing in Ireland

The Property Registration Authority (PRA) in partnership with the Law Society andIrish Mortgage Council has developed a new online system which will enable lending institutions to request the cancellation of registered charges by electronic means without the need to submit any paper to the PRA. The new system – known as eDischarges - will be more secure, efficient and transparent than the existing process and will eliminate many of the inefficiencies and delays currently experienced when mortgages have been redeemed.

Catherine Treacy, Chief Executive of the PRA said “The launch of this new system for processing discharges of charges in a completely paperless environment is public validation of a significant amount of work undertaken over the past two years.  While planning and development work has been ongoing for several years this is the first public step on a journey that will ultimately lead to a complete system of electronic conveyancing in Ireland.  All of the parties, particularly the staff in the PRA who have worked on the development of this system, can take great pride in their achievement.  The PRA would like to place on record its sincere thanks for the contribution made by the Law Society and Irish Mortgage Council and our colleagues in the Revenue Commissioners and Companies Registration Office, to the successful delivery of the new eDischarges system.”

The development of an eDischarges capability by the PRA is central to the development of a national system of electronic registration of title (eRegistration). The launch of eDischarges will also mark the delivery of the first element of eConveyancing in Ireland.

Gabriel Brennan, Law Society eConveyancing Project Manager said “The Law Society is delighted to be involved in this exciting initiative and thanks the PRA staff and Irish Banking Federation (IBF)for working so closely with the legal profession on the design of this new system. As a result of this collaboration inefficiencies and delays in the release of registered charges will be eliminated. Also in conjunction with this project the Law Society and IBF have initiated a new streamlined procedure for requesting title deeds, redemption figures and discharge of a charge. Together these two initiatives represent significant reform of the conveyancing process. There remains, however, considerable work to be done to reach the ultimate goal of eConveyancing and the Law Society looks forward to building on this progress with the PRA and IBF in the coming years.” 

Three lending institutions - Permanent TSB, AIB and KBC Bank - will launch the live system on the 30th March 2009 and, two weeks later on the 14th April, the system will be available to all lenders.

Pat Farrell, Chief Executive of IBF said “There was great appreciation amongst IBF members for the constructive nature of the working relationship with both the PRA and the Law Society.  This dialogue has led to the first tangible milestone on the road towards a fully functioning eConveyancing system in Ireland. IBF welcomes the move towards a modern, paperless and streamlined conveyancing system. Ultimately, eConveyancing throughthe introduction of a technology driven process will benefit Irish consumers and other stakeholders in the form of enhanced consistency, transparency and reduction in time and costs. In the meantime, IBF looks forward to continued engagement with the PRA and Law Society to achieve further improvements to the conveyancing process.” 

Source  Sarah Long in Changes in land registry practice and procedure in other countries

COAG's report card for national electronic conveyancing

22. A National Electronic Conveyancing System A single electronic system for completing real property transactions and lodging land title dealings for registration in Australia

COAG’s Business Regulation and Competition Working Group has published its 2009 Annual Report Card on progress towards a "seamless national economy".

• COAG to agree the form of the new legal entity for an e-conveyancing system by mid-2010. 
  
• Subject to States and Territories settling funding, new entity to be established and new Board appointed by September 2010. 
  
• Nationally uniform business processes to be agreed by September 2010. Any legislative changes to be enacted and all related transitional arrangements completed by early 2011. 
  
• New electronic conveyancing system to commence by end-2011.
  

Economic Appraisal of Electronic Conveyancing in NSW

National Electronic Conveyancing System

Under current arrangements, every State and Territory has its own unique property conveyancing system with different processes and procedures, based on an antiquated system of paper-shuffling. A single national electronic conveyancing system will mean consumers across the country can benefit from one system to settle property transactions, reducing costs and increasing efficiency in the property market.

Lands has been working with industry groups and other jurisdictions to develop and implement a National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS) since 2005. NECS will provide an efficient online national platform to electronically:

• Prepare and sign instruments;
  
• Settle property transactions;
  
• Lodge instruments with land registries; and
  
• Meet associated duty and tax obligations.
  

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is overseeing the implementation of NECS - see the media release at http://www.pm.gov.au/media/release/2008/media_release_0339.cfm

Economic Appraisal of implementation of NECS in NSW – In mid-2008 Lands contracted KPMG to conduct an

Economic Appraisal of implementation of NECS in NSW, and specifically to:

• familiarise with the conveyancing industry, engage with the key industry stakeholders, understand how the current conveyancing arrangements operate, and confirm the potential impacts of an electronic business environment and how best to apply the required methodologies
  
•  identify the information required and accountable sources of information necessary to carry out the economic appraisal according to the required methodologies
  
• research identified sources, obtain and analyse the information required for the appraisals
  
• prepare financial and economic appraisals of the NSW implementation of electronic conveyancing using NECS in a manner that can be shared with key stakeholders
  

KPMG completed their investigations and analysis in late 2008, concluding the implementation of NECS in NSW provides

• process efficiencies to industry including reduced data entry and document preparation, settlement and lodgment savings, courier and bank cheque savings and less process administration cost generally
  
• a ‘mature year’ saving of $49.8M in NECS-related conveyancing costs in NSW*
  
• an average saving of $170 per conveyancing case (i.e. per property sale or refinance)
  
• positive Net Present Value of $164.1M over the period to 2020 for the NSW proportion of costs to commission
  
• and operate NECS compatible systems for industry, government and NECS
  
• stakeholders generally consider that electronic conveyancing will result in considerable industry cost savings
  

* a ‘mature year’ is from 2020 when take-up of NECS to 70% of NSW land dealings is achieved, quantified in 2008 $ and volumes.

Based on the study, operation of NECS in NSW is expected to achieve savings of $49.8 million each year in

conveyancing costs to the NSW economy.

The NSW economy can attain the greatest benefit from electronic conveyancing where NSW is ready for implementation of NECS as soon as an acceptable system is ready. A significant part of “being ready” entails thorough consultation with stakeholders in NSW addressing business practices, risk management arrangements, supporting legislation and system and information service requirements during 2009.

The KPMG Economic Appraisal of Electronic Conveyancing in NSW report is available on the Department of Lands web site at 

http://www.lands.nsw.gov.au/_media/lands/pdf/necs/other/NECS_KPMG_final_report_Jan_2009.pdf

Source lands nsw newsletter

Please note

This newsletter is issued by NSW Department of Lands’ Land and Property Information Division (LPI). The information in this newsletter is correct at time of publication but may change as the NECS project develops. It reflects current thinking to generate discussion and is not a substitute for publication of Lands Circulars announcing policy changes.

Conveying the buck

THE delay to the planned national e-conveyancing system will prevent big cost savings being passed on to homebuyers nationally but, in Victoria, there will be some more pleasant side effects for the state government.

The delay to the national system looks like extending the financial windfall that is currently being enjoyed by the government.

That windfall is the result of increased charges for traditional paper-based conveyancing that were imposed by the Government to drive traffic to its state-based e-conveyancing system. That system, known as ECV, has a fee regime that is lower than the fees for paper-based conveyancing.

Nevertheless, it has been used for just one property settlement because it does not meet the fundamental requirements of its main customers -- banks and solicitors.

As a result, ECV is being boycotted by the banks -- which favour a national approach -- and by solicitors, who fear it will expose them to greater liability.

So while ECV is barely used, its existence is indirectly responsible for a revenue rip-off by the state Government.

If the states ever get around to establishing the organisation that will run the national system, the Council of Australian Governments has already decided one of its first responsibilities will be to have a good look at ECV.

The aim will be to decide whether any parts of the software underpinning the Victorian system can be used in the much larger national system.

For those who authorised the expenditure of $40 million on ECV, that process is unlikely to have a happy outcome.

Even if the new organisation decides to recycle 75 per cent of ECV's software, there will be no place for a state-based e-conveyancing system once the national system is rolled out.

Crucially, COAG has endorsed a single national system, not a federation of state systems.

If the new national system is indeed national, it is unlikely to be boycotted by the banks and if the nation's governments build a system that meets the minimum requirements of solicitors, they will have no reason to stay away.

That means the end of Victoria's revenue boom. Worse, it also means someone will need to explain to Victorian taxpayers why $40 million of their money was spent on a little-used system that is about to be scrapped.

Then again, all that unpleasantness will only happen in the most unlikely of circumstances.

It would first require all the state governments to break with tradition and take a national approach to e-conveyancing.

Now that the federal Government has decided to take a back seat on this issue, the one centre of power that is obliged to act for all of the nation is unlikely to cause much trouble.

Even if the states do nothing about e-conveyancing, the federal Government has signed on to a COAG deal that means the states could still be in line to pocket every dollar of a $550 million reward payment for reforming the national economy.

So if nothing changes there is a strong chance that harmony will continue to prevail in Victoria and conveyancing will continue to be a relatively expensive paper-based pursuit.

There is, however, an alternative.

To date, the record of the states on e-conveyancing is appalling. They have shown little interest in moving quickly to pass on cost savings to businesses and consumers.

They continue to treat this issue as a low priority, despite the fact that Kevin Rudd says e-conveyancing can cut the cost of buying a home by hundreds of dollars.

So how long will it be before the banks wash their hands of this mess and team up with solicitors and licensed conveyancers to establish a private sector e-conveyancing network? This would not, of necessity, extend to the state land titles offices. ...

It would still, however, cut the cost of property transactions and lead to savings that could be shared between banks, conveyancers and homebuyers.

It would also have the added benefit of insulating the private sector from the massive waste of time and money that is the hallmark of the states' handling of e-conveyancing.



PREJUDICE: Chris Merritt | March 20, 2009

Article from: The Australian

Costly delay on e-conveyancing

Chris Merritt, Legal affairs editor | March 20, 2009

Article from: The Australian

FEDERAL and state governments have decided to delay the national rollout of electronic conveyancing in a move that is set to wipe out cost savings for homebuyers worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The decision, which follows eight months of inaction by state governments, will put back the start date for e-conveyancing by almost two years.

Instead of introducing e-conveyancing nationally by March next year, all governments have decided that the new system should now be made available by the end of 2011.

The delay of up to 21 months means governments have abandoned the schedule announced last July by Kevin Rudd and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner.

At the time, the Prime Minister and Mr Tanner said the annual cost savings associated with e-conveyancing had been estimated by industry groups to be worth $250 million.

Based on that figure, a delay of 21 months could wipe out $437.5 million worth of cost savings on property transactions.

In November, Mr Rudd said e-conveyancing could save homebuyers hundreds of dollars on every house they purchase.

The delay, which is understood to have been caused by the states, has triggered urgent talks between Mr Tanner and representatives of the Law Council and the Australian Bankers Association.

Solicitors and bankers, along with non-lawyer conveyancers, are the key players in most property transactions.

Mr Tanner put pressure on the states last week to move faster on e-conveyancing. "I have recently met both the Australian Bankers Association and the Law Council of Australia and both have expressed a strong desire for more rapid implementation of electronic conveyancing," Mr Tanner said.

"I have just written to state and territory treasurers asking them to consider the possibility of earlier implementation and asking for advice as to whether that would be feasible in their jurisdiction."

Law Council president John Corcoran said the e-conveyancing project had been plagued by setbacks and the latest delay meant "we are back to square one".

The Australian Bankers Association warned the new plan meant there would be an 18-month hiatus before the states created the organisation that will run the national e-conveyancing system. "If we lose momentum in the current environment, it might be very difficult to get key stakeholders back into the process," said Ian Gilbert, the ABA's director of retail regulatory policy.

Details of the delay are contained in an implementation plan for the reform of 27 key areas of the economy that has just been made public by officials of the Council of Australian Governments.

The original timetable, which was published after last July's COAG meeting, had required the states to take five key decisions before the end of this month about the organisation that will run the national e-conveyancing system. None of those decisions have been taken.

In July, the states failed to meet their commitment to agree during that month on the form that the new organisation would take.

In October they failed to meet a commitment to settle and sign a governance agreement that month concerning the new entity. They also failed to agree on how the new entity would be funded.

In December, they failed to meet a commitment to establish the new organisation and appoint its board.

This month they failed to reach agreement on nationally uniform business processes for the new entity.

Under the revised timetable, these decisions are now due to be taken between the middle of 2010 and September of that year.

But concerns have already emerged that the delay in establishing the new organisation -- and a lack of seed funding -- might make it difficult to meet the revised start date of late 2011.

The development of a national system has now been incorporated into a broader COAG project for the development of a "seamless national economy".

The states are to receive up to $550 million from the federal Government for introducing reforms in 27 areas covered by the agreement. Most of this will be paid to the states after they make the reforms. But $100 million will be made available as a "facilitation" payment this financial year.

Because the e-conveyancing body is not due to be established until September 2010, it will be too late to gain access to the Government's $100 million.

The COAG agreement provides a strong financial incentive for the states to make progress on 10 priority areas listed in the agreement.

E-conveyancing is not among them.

If the states again fail to meet their commitments on the e-conveyancing project, they could still receive their full reward payments from the commonwealth so long as they make progress in the other areas covered by the agreement.

The ABA's Mr Gilbert said creating the new organisation by September 2010 and giving it 12 months to introduce the new network "is an extremely ambitious thing -- particularly where there has been little work done in the interim".

He was also concerned the federal Government had decided not to provide any "seed money" for the new organisation and was leaving its funding to the states.

"Seed funding is absolutely essential," Mr Gilbert said.

"You cannot set up a company and have it conduct business, including hiring contractors and remunerating staff, unless it is absolutely certain of its funding sources.

"If this was addressed now by the commonwealth putting in the seed funding, there would be no reason why the steps to set up the entity could not be expedited.

"We could see that entity in place in a matter of months, rather than 18 months," Mr Gilbert said. The Law Council's Mr Corcoran said the most alarming aspect of the new approach was the requirement that funding for the new organisation would depend on the states reaching agreement.

"This is exactly where we were in 2005," he said. "We see this as a very backward step."

The COAG agreement also shows that federal ministers are to have less responsibility for overseeing the introduction of e-conveyancing.

Last July, all governments had agreed that responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the new system should be vested with COAG's business regulation and competition working group.

This group is co-chaired by Mr Tanner and Small Business Minister Craig Emerson.

But the latest COAG agreement makes the introduction of e-conveyancing a state responsibility.

The agreement says the states and territories will have responsibility for working with each other and the commonwealth to implement a co-ordinated national approach on e-conveyancing and several other areas.

Those areas that are commonwealth responsibilities are listed separately.

However, Mr Tanner and the BRCWG are expected to continue to have a role in checking the timetable is carried out.

Australian

Caveats Online

Victoria follows Tasmania's lead.

From April 2009, subscribers will be able to lodge caveats in Victoria using the Electronic Conveyancing (EC) system. 

Requirements for client identification and representation agreements have been streamlined for caveat transactions and these are reflected in the updated Registrar’s Requirements. The Registrar has not specified how you should identify your client nor requires a standard representation agreement to be entered into with your client in relation to the caveat transaction. 

What types of caveat can be processed through EC?

Initially, caveats expressing the following grounds of claim can be processed using the EC system:

• contract from the registered proprietor(s)
• mortgage from the registered proprietor(s)
• charge from the registered proprietor(s)
• charge contained in an agreement from the registered proprietor(s)
• charge contained in a mortgage from the registered proprietor(s)
• charge contained in a building agreement from the registered proprietor(s).


It is intended that additional types of caveats will be introduced at a later date.

Identity

The identity of the client must be verified but this should be no more onerous than the process for paper caveats.

Source EC Brochure Caveats Online

ANZ slashes jobs

Chris Zappone

March 13, 2009 - 10:32AM

ANZ Bank will dump 500 back-office staff in Australia and shift the jobs to India by the end of the year.

An ANZ spokeswoman this morning confirmed that most of the jobs about to be scrapped were in Melbourne.

"In 2008, the size of the operation in Bangalore grew by around 500 people and it is reasonable to expect there will be some further growth in 2009," said an ANZ spokeswoman in a statement.

Go to BusinessDay's Jobs in Jeopardy index for the latest news on job cuts. 

However, call centres will remain in Australia and New Zealand, the bank said. 
 
The confirmation follows reports in the The Age last year that the bank had been advised by consultants to cut 620 jobs between January and September 2009, with 870 jobs identified for "offshore migration." At the time, the bank refused to quantify any local cuts.
 
The move will allow ANZ to focus more on its Asian business and confirmed the latest round of cuts in Australia would boost the 3000-strong workforce it already has in Bangalore.

Centralising the processing centre in Indian is part of the ANZ's plan to grow into a super-regional bank in Asia, as outlined by chief executive Mike Smith.

Late last year, the bank moved 500 back-office jobs to India as part of the transition. The jobs are separate from the 800 retrenchments ANZ announced in December affecting local employees.

Austock banking analyst John Buonaccorsi said ANZ's Mr Smith was "more aggressive" and "less sentimental" about moving back office jobs than his predecessors, as the bank moved to centralise its processing centre ahead of regional growth.

Mr Buonaccorsi said that typically, when a bank moved jobs to India, more positions were created overseas in the process because of the lower productivity of workers relative to their Australian counterparts.

Rod Masson, policy director at the Finance Sector Union, described the cuts "scurrilous".

"It shows contempt for the Australian community and in a more targeted sense for Australian workers and finance workers."

He called on the Government to address the issue of off-shoring by banks.

The Federal Government needs "to lay some conditions on the continued taxpayer support that’s being used to underwrite the risks to these businesses," he said.

Major banks often tried to hide the extent of processing happening outside Australia, he said, with local employees instructed not to reveal to customers what duties are being performed overseas.

"Fundamentally the banks are actually embarrassed they have to do this," he said.

"They’re quite happy to take the cost savings. But they’re embarrassed and understand there will be a public backlash should it be revealed."

czappone@fairfax.com.au
BusinessDay

Comment: my understanding is ANZ residential mortgages is being affected as follows

1. Mortgage and security preparation is effectively being offshored to Bangalore; and

2. Settlements are outsourced to an outside Australian company

SAI Global fail to take over Espreon

SAI Global has failed to compulsorily acquire information services provider Espreon, managing to secure only a little more than two-thirds of the company in its recent takeover bid.

The takeover offer closed yesterday at 7pm, at which point SAI Global, an applied information services company specialising in risk management and compliance, had secured a 61.23 per cent relevant interest, well short of the required interest of more than 90 per cent for a compulsory acquisition. In addition, over 1 million shares (1.28 per cent) were the result of acceptances of the takeover offer made by SAI to Espreon shareholders.

Espreon today reported that SAI Global had secured 62.5 per cent relevant interest at the conclusion of the bid.

SAI chief executive Tony Scotton and chief financial officer Geoff Richardson have been nominated to join Espreon’s board, an intended move set out in the SAI Bidder’s Statement. Effective today, they have been appointed directors of the company following the Espreon board’s approval of the nominations.

Espreon’s board has experienced further changes with the resignation of three members, the retirement of two members and the appointment of a new company secretary.

Reported by Money Management : 12 March 2009 | by Amal Awad

Re: Outcome of SAI Global and Vectis off market bids for Espreon

As you may be aware, Espreon has been the subject of two off market takeover offers, one from SAI Global Limited (SAI) and one from Vectis Group Pty Limited (Vectis).  These offers have now both concluded and SAI has secured a controlling 62.5% of Espreon’s shares.

Espreon Announcement

National Electronic Conveyancing – COAG implementation timetable

COAG have posted on their website the timetable for a National electronic conveyancing system A single electronic system for completing real property transactions and lodging land title dealings and registration in Australia. 

2009-2010

All jurisdictions: COAG to agree the form of the new legal entity for an e-conveyancing system by mid 2010

States and Territories: agree governance arrangements for new entity by mid 2010

2010 - 2011

States and Territories:

• subject to States and Territories settling funding, establish new entity and appoint Board by Sept 2010
  
• agree nationally uniform business processes by Sept 2010
  
• enact any necessary legislative changes and complete all related transitional arrangements by early 2011
  

  

2011 - 2012

States and Territories: commence the new e-conveyancing system by end 2011

The conditions on funding are quite complicated and tied in with the States reaching key milestones on reforms in 27 specific areas, not just electronic conveyancing. Quite a task

Link to funding document National Partnership to deliver a seamless national economy

Comment:

The government's proposed national electronic conveyancing system has just taken a couple of crazy left turns.

There is now a new timetable, with the commencement of the new e-conveyancing system by end 2011, being nearly 3 years from now.

Implementation of the new e-conveyancing system is still the responsibility of the states and territories, so that hasn't changed. However, e-conveyancing has just been tossed into the bed with 26 other State regulatory reforms such as nationally consistent uniform occupational health and safety laws; environmental assessment and approvals; payroll tax; rail safety regulation; food regulation; mine safety; maritime safety; wine labelling; etc (and I have only quoted 8 other reforms) all of which are dependent on electronic conveyancing reform and vice verca.

I can see you asking the question what has e-conveyancing got to do with wine labelling? Well not a lot but its all to do with the funding.

If any government stalls on any of the reforms in any of the 27 areas, Commonwwalth funding can be and probably will be withheld. This is classic school teacher / pupil relations of old. If the recalcitrant student doesn't own up all students will be punished and stay back for detention.

The first agenda items for the States and territories are -

• settling funding, establish new entity and appoint Board by Sept 2010
  
• agree nationally uniform business processes by Sept 2010
  
• enact any necessary legislative changes and complete all related transitional arrangements by early 2011
  

Where does that leave NECS? My guess is NECS and NECO will continue the co-operative work with the states and industry until the new entity is established. We will just wait to see whether this is sooner or later and whether COAG's novel approach to funding will actually work. The agreement is the States will get some upfront funding and then nothing until years 4 & 5 when the reward funding kicks in.

Approval times blow out at CBA

The CBA's fax machines are being clogged.

It may be Commonwealth Bank’s turn to aggravate mortgage brokers and take weeks to handle their loan applications.   

Mortgage Choice told the Herald Sun that CBA was taking up to 20 days to process loan documents, a major irritant at a time of a revival in demand for new home loans.

CBA's head of retail products, Michael Cant, told the newspaper the bank's first home buyer volumes had more than doubled since the increase in the grant from the federal government was announced in October, while aggregate home loan volume was up 40 per cent since the middle of February.

"The volumes have been extraordinary in the last month - they have hit a record high," Cant said.

On the other hand Cant said reports of 20-day waits on approvals were rare.

Westpac had even worse delays in processing applications lodged through brokers late last year and early this year, though the bank had managed to catch up as of a month ago.
 
Mortgage Choice chief executive Paul Lahiff told the Herald Sun, “we are experiencing incredible growth in activity.”

Lahiff said his company record growth throughout February, with more than 25 per cent of all brokered loans being for new homes.

heraldsun

Another reason to pursue eMortgage

For years now, mortgage technologists have been offering electronic mortgage technology, basically digital docs that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will accept in the place of paper documentation, to mortgage lenders who really weren't that interested. OriginatingeMortgages would involve changing the way lenders worked with closing agents and borrowers. It might be more confusing for borrowers, despite the fact that they use a similar keypad to buy just about anything from Home Depot, Best Buy, Wal-Mart or Staples. It might involve additional software or hardware that could be expensive or difficult to implement. Some of these excuses may have been actual reasons a few years ago, but they aren't today.

Today, eMortgage technology is affordable, easy to install, understood by closing agents and borrowers and readily accepted by secondary market investors, at least the ones that are still in the market. And here's another reason to go all-electronic now:

According to a story in the Honululu Advertiser, homeowners there are finding a handy way to stall the foreclosure process. They simply ask to see the original paper documentation.

"During the real estate frenzy of the past decade, mortgageswere sold and resold, bundled into securities and peddled to investors. In many cases, the original note signed by the homeowner was lost, stored away in a distant warehouse or destroyed."

As the "victim" of possible foreclosure points out in the story:

"I'm going to hang on for dear life until they can prove to me it belongs to them," said Lovelace, a 50-year-old divorced mother who owns a $200,000 home in Zephyrhills, near Tampa. "I'll try everything I can because it's all I have left."

It's probably time now for lenders to get rid of the paper once and for all.

Rick's Notebook blog

Perfect storm hits Fairfax as rivers flow online

Terry McCrann

February 24, 2009 12:00am

Hera;d Sun

WILL there be Fairfax broadsheets for Costello or indeed anyone else to write in, much further into the future?

The most stunning revelation in Fairfax Media's numbers was that it earned more from its online operations than from the two 'rivers of classified gold' - its two broadsheets, The Age and theSydney Morning Herald.

Even more tellingly, the single biggest component of the online profit has precious little to do with media in anything remotely like the traditional sense, far less journalism. And even less to do with Australia - it was the New Zealand Trade Me online advertising business.

Talk about climate change, in the half the two rivers ran about as full and fast as the Murray - generating just $47 million in profit before interest and tax (EBIT). In contrast, online generated $51 million, with around half that coming from Trade Me.

In the December 2007 period, the two broadsheets contributed $70 million or nearly double the $45 million that came then from the online businesses.

The broadsheets have been hit by two perfect storms with any realistic assessment suggesting they will only get worse this year and longer-term.

The first is the traditional reality that costs are locked-in, so what happens to revenue tends to flow straight through to the bottom line.

In the good times that's been fantastic. In the latest half though, a $21 million drop in revenue was matched dollar-for-dollar by a $21 million drop in EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation).

Because of a rise in depreciation, it was even worse at the EBIT level - profit dropped by $23 million.

Online is less cost-inflexible and less capital-intensive. So depreciation took just $5 million of online's $56 million EBITDA, as against $23 million or nearly a third of the broadsheet's EBITDA.

The second storm is, of course, that fundamental erosion of print's classified base. The 'climate change' that the occasional 'flood' in a property boom is not going to prevent.

But nothing could more explicitly demonstrate the basic insoluble problem: that while the ads might be migrating to the online space, whether or not Fairfax keeps them, the profits don't flow with them.

Take out Trade Me across the ditch, and Fairfax made precious little online in Australia. But those revenues came with substantial costs.

But at last they are growing. Albeit mostly in NZ. Revenues in every other division were down, and in every case operating profit fell by more than the revenue drop.

And this, when the Australian economy was still in reasonable shape. At least, compared with what might come.

Fairfax will be praying - in the non-religious sense of course, that is de riguer these days and was on display again last Sunday - that the government's stimulus packages will work and quickly.

Fairfax, and its lenders. It has $2.5 billion of net debt and is uncomfortably close to its debt covenant limits.

Shareholders are merely bystanders in all this. There is no way Fairfax is going to go to them for fresh capital.