As most homeowners will tell you, there’s a lot that goes into a mortgage. Behind every successful transaction, there are banks, credit unions, lenders, borrowers, solicitors and brokers that connect the dots from interest to settlement. It’s a mix that makes for a complicated process at times, even for the most experienced links in the chain.

But as the housing market evolves, both lenders and borrowers are demanding an easier way. Lextech, a leading provider of mortgage processing and legal settlement services, is making that possible through its cloud-based centralized mortgage processing platform.

Its efforts have made the business a significant player in the sector and earned Group CEO Peter Maloney a place as finalist at The CEO Magazine’s Executive of the Year Awards 2025 in no less than three categories: Banking, Financial Services and Insurance; Information Technology and Telecommunications; and Professional Services.

“The mortgage and lending industry is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in decades,” he reveals. “Wind the clock back 30 years and every single Australian would walk into a bank branch and ask for a loan.”

No longer.

A shifting sector

Today, brokers originate the vast majority of loans, with non-bank lenders accounting for 30 percent of all loans. It’s a shift in market dynamics driven by emerging technology, heightened regulatory scrutiny and rising customer expectations for a quicker and more transparent process.

“Borrowers increasingly expect seamless, near-instant loan experiences, while lenders and brokers are under pressure to reduce turnaround times, improve security and ensure compliance,” he says.

To Maloney, an experienced company director with almost three decades of experience in the legal, regulatory, health and fintech sectors, a great opportunity was waiting to be seized. In January 2025, when he was named Group CEO of Lextech (formerly Purcell Partners), he got his chance.

“Property transactions and loan types are becoming more complex, and Lextech is at the forefront of this shift away from manual, paper-driven processes and toward fully digital, data-driven solutions,” he explains.

Building better

Lextech’s goal is to allow customers originate a mortgage – end to end – within two hours. Maloney says AI is the last-mile carrier.

“We’ve taken our teams through the AI use cases, and they understand it can play a pivotal role in how we scale and have computers doing computer work while humans do human work,” he says.

From generative and agentic AI to future developing models, Lextech’s solutions are redefining industry standards and setting a new benchmark for how Australians experience what Maloney says is one of life’s most important financial transactions: the mortgage.

“When we get there, we’ll have changed the lender–broker–borrower relationship forever,” he reveals. “We’ve not only adapted to the evolving landscape; we’re helping to shape it.”

Such a lofty outcome can only be achieved by keeping an ear open to the market’s needs. With Maloney at the helm, Lextech has done exactly that, both internally and externally.

“Leadership is too often preoccupied with having all the answers,” he points out. “The best advice I ever received was, ‘Listen twice as much as you speak.’

“The most valuable role a leader can play is to ask the right questions, listen deeply, be truly present and act decisively based on what they’ve heard. That mindset has helped me build stronger teams, better products and deeper client relationships.”

Hungry for more

That mindset has also set Lextech on the road to market leadership and along the way, earned Maloney and his team plenty of accolades.

“I really love leading a high-growth business, and I think everyone gets a kick out of seeing six or 10 new team members join every month,” he says.

“It brings home that we’re growing and that we’re racing toward our big hairy audacious goal of five-fold growth in five years. Our team loves it and they’re hungry for it. We really are a business whereby success breeds success.”

And success is happening. Lextech’s combination of cutting-edge technology and deep legal expertise is making loan processing faster, more secure and easier for all parties involved. Already, the firm represents a third of all Australian lenders, facilitating billions in loans and property transactions every year.

“I’m proud of the direction Lextech is heading,” Maloney says. “If we get this right, we’ll have made property ownership more accessible for Australians, and ensured the institutions that serve them are stronger, more agile and better equipped to thrive in a rapidly evolving market.”