Lloyds Banking Group joins Open Property Data Association on mission to deliver better homebuying process
The UK’s biggest lender, Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), has joined the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) on a mission to overhaul the notoriously slow home buying and selling process through the sharing of digital data. With signs this year of a tentative revival in the market, and lender focus on embedding consumer duty, the need to make transactions quicker, more transparent, and easier for buyers and sellers has never been more important.
Currently, less than one per cent of property data is openly available in a digital format. Converting all property data sources and documents to a digital format and making it shareable through open data standards is essential if there is to be a transition to digital transactions. Removing manual processes and friction reduces fraud, prevents transaction fall throughs, and enables customers to exchange contracts in as little as 15 days, all of which deliver huge benefits to mortgage lenders. OPDA aims for every company, in every part of the mortgage and property chain, to share open data in a digital, standardised, and trusted format.
Claire Cherrington, Head of Strategic and Technology Partnership at Lloyds Bank Group, said: “We wholeheartedly support OPDA’s mission to change the way people buy and sell houses by implementing open data standards and encouraging transparent data sharing across the mortgage and wider property sector. At LBG we are passionate about driving technology adoption and I am particularly excited about how shareable data can improve mortgage lending and create a safer, more trusted experience for customers. Property buying and selling needs to become much easier and quicker.”
LBG will lead on the consumer awareness and understanding of digital property data while supporting the trade association in making transparent data sharing and raising standards the norm across the property industry. Key members of LBG’s leadership, technology, and data teams will work alongside OPDA’s executive committee which comprises 15 industry leaders, technology innovators, and organisations committed to driving positive change.
Through its mortgage lending brands and industry partners, LBG will implement and drive adoption of OPDA’s latest framework for property data standards. The framework is a standardised set of data and governance principles which includes a common data dictionary, a standardised way to describe property attributes, and a methodology for sharing data with trust and provenance. LBG will add their advocacy and support to the ongoing development of open data standards across the property lifecycle and to the creation of the trust and interoperability framework.
The new framework is freely available to the property industry and their software providers, from estate agents, through to lawyers, lenders and brokers, without any restrictive, proprietary licences.
Maria Harris, Chair of OPDA, said: “Lloyds Banking Group joining us is a momentous step forward for open data sharing and a huge endorsement of our mission. Having such a trusted High Street name as an OPDA member is fantastic; it will help us get the message across to the consumer that open data standards are fundamental to digitising property transactions and that we can deliver a better
experience for everyone. Having accurate and trustable data about our property is vital to give people and the industry confidence as the market starts to recover.”
