Lloyds Banking Group has joined the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) as its latest member.
Lloyds Banking Group – which, based on UK Finance figures, is the largest lender in the UK by gross lending and value of mortgages outstanding – will help OPDA develop transparent data sharing practices, raise standards and create best practice across the property industry.
Members of Lloyds Banking Group’s executive committee will also work with OPDA’s executive committee to “drive positive change”.
Lloyds Banking Group will support OPDA’s latest framework for property data standards, a standardised set of data and governance principles that include a common data dictionary, which offers a standardised way to describe property attributes and methodology for sharing data with trust and provenance.
The lender will also support the “ongoing development of the trust and interoperability framework”.
OPDA is working on improving the homebuying and selling process through a standardised approach to sharing digital data.
Claire Cherrington, head of strategic and technology partnership at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We are passionate about driving shareable data that can improve the end-to-end housebuying process by creating a safer, more trusted experience for customers.“
“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.”
Maria Harris (pictured), chair of OPDA, said: “Lloyds Banking Group joining us is a momentous step forward for open data sharing and a huge endorsement of our mission.
“Having Lloyds Banking Group as an OPDA member is fantastic; it will help us get the message across to the property market that open data standards are fundamental to digitising transactions and that we can deliver a better experience for everyone.
“Having accurate and trustable data about our property is vital to give people and the industry confidence.”
OPDA brought out its latest property data trust framework last week so that its data tools are “free and shareable” across the sector.
The association has also welcomed Finova and Phoebus Software as members.
Anna is a reporter for Mortgage Solutions and assistant editor for Specialist Lending Solutions, both B2B sister titles of YourMoney.com. She has worked as a journalist for over four years, initially in the specialty insurance sector before moving onto mortgages.
