Lloyds Bank has pledged to support the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) in its aim to improve the homebuying and selling process by developing a standardised approach to sharing digital data in the market.

According to the Association, less than one per cent of property data is openly available in digital format.

The organisation says that converting property data sources and documents to a digital format and making it shareable through open data standards is essential to a creating a "digital homebuying experience".

Lloyds Bank will help it build transparent data sharing practices, raise standards, and develop best practice across the property industry.

“We are passionate about driving shareable data that can improve the end-to-end house buying process creating a safer, more trusted experience for customers," said Claire Cherrington, head of strategic and technology partnership at Lloyds Banking Group
“We are right behind OPDA in their mission to change the way people buy and sell houses by implementing open data standards and encouraging transparent data sharing across the residential property sector.”

Members of the bank's leadership and technology teams also are set to work alongside OPDA’s executive committee.

Through its mortgage lending brands and industry partners, Lloyds will support OPDA’s latest framework for property data standards.

The framework is a standardised set of data and governance principles that includes a common data dictionary, a standardised way to describe property attributes, and a methodology for sharing data with trust and provenance.

The move is the latest example of the banking group's involvement in the digitalisation of processes in financial services.

Lloyds recently became the first UK bank to join electronic trade documentation platform WaveBL.

Last week it said that WaveBL would help unlock new trade efficiencies and sustainability benefits for its customers by using electronic Bills of Lading (eBLs).

An eBL is a document in international trade issued by a carrier when a seller dispatches goods to an end customer which acts as a ‘receipt’ for the goods being shipped. Once payment – or agreement to pay at a future date – for the goods is received, the eBL is released to the buyer so they can claim the product on arrival.

---