REA Group has greatly expanded its offering to brokers by acquiring a major stake in Simpology, a tech company that offers solution in the application and e-lodgement space.
REA will buy a 34% stake in the business and use it to increase its turnaround times by allowing brokers to process more paperwork online, as well as giving them more access to different lenders via the 30 lenders that are integrated with Simpology’s system.
The news of this acquisition comes hot on the heels of the announcement last week that REA intend to buy Mortgage Choice, one of the biggest aggregators in Australia.
That deal was approved by Mortgage Choice’s shareholders last Thursday, with the deal thought to be worth around $244 million. 98% of shareholders approved of the deal, well above the 75% threshold, and the acquisition will go to legal confirmation.
Speaking about the Simpology deal, CEO Owen Wilson said that it was the next step in integrating tech systems to help brokers.
“REA’s investment in Simpology reinforces our commitment to delivering the best end-to-end mortgage application solutions for consumers, our brokers and their clients, founded on choice and simplicity,” he said.
“Our partnership will provide a step-change in the loan selection and digital application experience REA can deliver the 12 million Australians who visit realestate.com.au each month.”
“At the same time, Simpology’s suite of digital products will deliver productivity improvements to our brokers through higher quality loan submissions resulting in less re-work, faster loan approval times and streamlined business operations, so they can spend more time with their clients.”
