The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is considering an inquiry into PEXA Group due to allegations of anti-competition actions.
PEXA, a major e-conveyancing provider, had been asked to contribute to an interoperability program, which would allow parties in a property transaction to use any service provider. The company reportedly claimed that cooperating with regulators on interoperability could breach their intellectual property rights.
“We are still in the process of assessing those concerns, and I wouldn’t characterise it as an in-depth investigation at this stage, but naturally, the concerns warrant further consideration,” said ACCC executive general manager Melinda McDonald.
PEXA, backed by Commonwealth Bank, monopolised the A$800 billion e-conveyancing market until startup Sympli opened for business last year. PEXA was originally a joint venture between a collection of major banks and state governments before it was privatised in 2019.
“PEXA has intellectual property rights over those important functions that we have developed in consultation with our lending institution customers over the past decade,” PEXA CEO Les Vance told the Australian Banking Association about the inoperability program. “It is not reasonable that you are being asked to outline the functionality of those systems to the regulator, especially as this could lead to disclosure of our company’s intellectual property.”
“To date, we have not received any inquiries from the ACCC regarding an investigation,” according to a PEXA spokesperson.
PEXA is reportedly bidding to acquire legal software company Dye & Durham, though this has been paused by Dye & Durham investors.
PEXA’s (ASX: PXA) share price closed at A$12.50 on Friday, up from the previous day’s $12.32. Its market cap is $2.2 billion.