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A customer-owned bank has unveiled a trial intended to “transform” the home loan contract process through enabling customers to submit completed forms online, bringing enhanced speed and quality.
Gateway Bank CEO, Lexi Airey, said: “Customer-centricity is at the core of our organisation and service simplification will have a positive effect both for our valued members and our staff.”
The platform allows for digital delivery, completion, and return of loan contracts and mortgages. It also provides a way for loan documents to be signed online and returned instantaneously.
Two-factor authentication measures are built into the platform to ensure that the swift processing doesn’t come at the cost of lessened security.
The trial was announced by Gateway days after Parliament passed a bill that “will improve the capacity of Australia’s customer-owned banking sector to more easily raise capital and increase its ability to compete with the nation’s major banks,” according to the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA).
The news was welcomed by COBA, as past legislation has at times constrained customer-owned institutions. However, recent developments suggest that may be shifting.
According to Cordell Smith, the managing partner at Galilee Solicitors, the platform developer for Gateway, “Mortgages have long been a stumbling block in the pursuit of an entirely digital loan process.
“Recent changes to NSW legislation that enable electronic witnessing, align with existing Victorian and South Australian capabilities, and probably represent a new beginning for the mortgage lending industry.”
Gateway’s digital mortgage platform has gone live in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria.
The bank has confirmed its commitment to working with the government to make the acceptance of digital mortgages possible throughout the rest of Australia as well in the future.
