Shieldpay and My Home Move’s law firm subsidiary, Premier Property Lawyers, with the support of Barclays and the specialist regulator of conveyancers, the CLC, have used Shieldpay’s instant digital escrow facility to power the UK’s first fully digital mortgage settlement, bringing transformation to the £245 billion mortgage market in the UK[1].
Through Shieldpay’s digital facility, moving day – one of the most stressful parts of the home buying process – can be transformed. This proof of concept demonstrates that all parties involved in the mortgage process can reduce costs and liabilities associated with customer due diligence checks and the holding of funds. Business operations within conveyancing firms will be made more efficient, potentially improving the bottom line. Consumers also stand to benefit from more streamlined processes and greater visibility over their money throughout the entire process, certainty over the date of completion and, critically, the time when they can move into their new home.
Fully regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, Shieldpay’s transparent payment solution mitigates the risk of fraud by verifying the identity of all parties, holding funds securely and only releasing funds when all sides agree they’re happy. In addition to real estate, Shieldpay can accelerate multi-million-pound M&A deals as well as protecting smaller payments, such as buying or selling your car, to power classifieds sites and e-commerce marketplaces.
John Stecher, Chief Innovation Officer at Barclays, comments: “Shieldpay has improved the efficiency of digital payments in a truly innovative way. The team has put a huge amount of effort into creating a 'bank-grade' payments platform that will change the way that people buy and sell valuable goods and services. They are definitely one to watch in the UK fintech industry.”
Peter Janes, Founder and CEO of Shieldpay, comments: “For too long individuals and businesses have had to engage in unnecessary complexity when sending and receiving sizeable funds. Anyone who has ever bought or sold a home will know it’s probably the most important transaction of their lives but unfortunately, it’s also the most painful. They also suffer from a complete lack of transparency over the status of the transaction. We only have to look at the size of the mortgage market in the UK as an example to understand the benefits for enterprises and consumers of a completely digital payments process.”
Legal industry regulators, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority, have all expressed the market’s need for digital transformation through innovations like Shieldpay.
Doug Crawford, CEO, My Home Move, comments: “Having completed the first residential property transaction with Shieldpay, we can see the immediate benefits that their solution brings and how moving day could be revolutionised for many home movers. Clients waiting with the removal van in the afternoon for money to reach the lawyers could soon be a thing of the past.”
Rob Gurney, Head of Legal Practice, Premier Property Lawyers, comments: “Every link of a chain that uses Shieldpay will bring forward the time at which the top of the chain can collect their keys and, in a chain where all parties were using this type of solution, it would be possible for a whole chain to complete and collect keys early in the morning, reducing stress and inefficiency for all of the individuals and businesses involved.”
Stephen Ward, Director of Strategy and External Relations, CLC, comments: “This first fully digital mortgage settlement in the UK marks a milestone for the sector and we are committed to working closely with Shieldpay and CLC-regulated practices to bring the opportunities and benefits of escrow and third party managed accounts to clients and conveyancers alike. We encourage other innovators to take advantage of the support that we can offer as a specialist regulator of conveyancing as they develop and test new approaches and solutions”