NatWest and Pexa partnered in 2024 to bring the two-day remortgage to market, with plans to extend this capability to house sales and purchases in the future.
NatWest said the transaction demonstrated the benefits of digitisation and automation in the remortgage process, and was significantly faster than the typical timeline of four to six weeks. It said this highlighted the opportunity to enhance processes across conveyancing and mortgage lending.
Pexa launched in the UK in 2022, and its platform enables automated workflows and real-time settlement.
Its platform is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and connects the movement of funds and lodgement of title within one secure platform.
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Making the homeownership journey faster and simpler
Barry Connolly, managing director for home buying and ownership at NatWest, said: “Our focus is on making the homeownership journey faster and simpler for our customers. This is an important milestone in our partnership with Pexa and a strong demonstration of how digital infrastructure can accelerate the remortgage process.
“I was delighted to hear the first remortgage customer to complete via Pexa gave the highest possible satisfaction scores for this transaction, which indicates how positive this experience was for them. We are really excited about the impact of this enhanced service we can now offer, and are committed to a wider roll out, including sale and purchase transactions.”
Joe Pepper, UK chief executive of Pexa, added: “This is a significant moment for Pexa and NatWest, and a strong example of the progress we are making together. Completing a remortgage in just two working days from offer to completion shows what can be achieved when manual steps are removed and processes are better connected.
“This was possible because the Pexa platform enables lodgement, settlement and data synchronisation activities to be orchestrated in parallel within a single, integrated environment. This reduces reliance on manual intervention and allows transactions to complete with far greater speed, certainty and control once ready to proceed.”
Pepper said: “This is an early example, but it points to the opportunity for the UK to move from a system where transactions take weeks to complete, to one where they can be completed in days with far greater certainty, transparency and security.”
