NatWest joins OPDA

Following this announcement, the NatWest Group has joined the Open Property Data Association, an organisation that advocates for the government to provide digitised property data from key sources, such as local authority searches, building safety reports, planning permissions, or the Land Registry. 

The association also seeks clearer guidance on how to implement a fully digital homebuying market. Through this integration, NatWest will continue to focus on meeting the needs, preferences, and demands of clients and users in an ever-evolving market, while prioritising the process of remaining compliant with the regulatory requirements and laws of the industry as well. 

More information on the announcement

Since its launch last summer, OPDA focused on introducing open property data standards and models for sharing reliable information across the overall property sector. At the same time, the association’s free, open-source tools and products have also been used to develop digital property packs, which cut the time between mortgage offers and contract exchanges to as little as 15 days for some customers and clients. 

NatWest follows other lenders and financial institutions in joining the Open Property Data Association, including HSBC, Nationwide, and the Lloyds Banking Group. Additional members of the organisation also include Atom bank, PEXA, and Coadjute. The process of speeding up the homebuying journey and making it more secure, simple, and customer-centric represents the main aim of what NatWest is trying to achieve as a bank. 

In addition, joining OPDA represents an important step for NatWest’s commitment to driving up standards of transparency and collaboration across all parts of the homebuying journey, as it will also focus on continuous improvement. NatWest and the other lending member’s ability to reduce the industry’s attachment to forms-based thinking, as well as the siloed approaches are set to have a big impact on improving the customer experience of homebuying processes.