SmartSearch comment - New Conveyancing Task Force should look to digital onboarding

23 February 2021

Commenting on the launch of the new Conveyancing Task Force, John Dobson, CEO at SmartSearch, said: “The launch of this new task force for the conveyancing sector is a really positive move, particularly as one of their aims is to formulate and agree due diligence procedures.

“Top of the list of priorities for the task force should be stemming the tide of money laundering and financial fraud that has swept through the property market since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

“There is a simple solution at their disposal which is to accelerate the move to electronic verification (EV) across the conveyancing sector for onboarding new customers and complying with Know Your Customer (KYC) guidance.

“The Government has been clear on this point in recent months in terms of backing the use of EV, because it is much more secure and accurate in providing the true identity of a would-be house buyer.

“It is high time the outmoded method of manually verifying customer ID is made obsolete in favour of a digital process which protects your business, saves time and money and stops fraud at the front door.”