Mr. Dennis Barnhart:

My pleasure. Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be here and meet the Chairman and members. I am the chief strategy and integration officer for Teranet, an international leader and pioneer in electronic registration systems, e-conveyancing and eCommerce. I have led the Ireland e-conveyancing project on behalf of the company since the fall of 2011. Teranet is based in Ontario, Canada and has 20 years of experience in modernising and managing land registration systems and e-conveyancing solutions. We have modernised and digitised approximately 5.9 million land records, or land titles, and have digitised 90 million documents and approximately 500 million pages of information in the process. Teranet developed, owns and operates Ontario’s electronic land registration system, ELRS, and facilitates the delivery of electronic conveyancing and land registration services on behalf of the province.

Teranet built the world’s first electronic land registration system with full digital submission, collaboration and validation capabilities. We are now into our second large scale re-engineering and it remains one of the world’s most sophisticated, efficient and modern systems. We have 475 knowledge workers who facilitate that process on behalf of the government. Teranet offers robust features and access options to consumers and customers in the real estate, legal and financial industries as well as governments and utility companies, in addition to the collection and disbursement of appropriate fees to the government. Our products include the capability to provide electronic mortgage instruction and the electronic transfer of mortgage funds in a secure real time environment, which is a critical aspect of e-conveyancing.

Teranet has successfully leveraged its partnership with the government, lenders and legal community to deliver end-to-end e-conveyancing solutions across Canada, while maintaining and enabling statutory obligations and adhering to existing government policies and business rules. Teranet’s conveyancer solution is the dominant legal work flow solution in Canada. It is in a competitive environment. We probably process 65% of all property transactions through that software. Demonstrating the province’s confidence in Teranet, the government of Ontario, Canada’s largest province, extended its exclusive relationship with the company by 50 years in 2010. The ability to negotiate a contract to protect the government's interest for 50 years was significant given issues such as fee certainty, data protection, privacy and ownership of the system. We have a concession and we negotiated that at the end of 50 years, the government can take back the system if it so desires and we have a process in place to deal with that.

In 2012, the province of Manitoba signed terms for an exclusive 30-year licence to operate the end-to-end property registry agency and modernise its land registration system and processes. Teranet is a wholly owned investment of the Ontario Municipal Employee Retirement System, OMERS, through Borealis Infrastructure. What is nice about our organisation is the profits go to public service pensioners and, as such, Borealis Infrastructure has a long-term, low risk investment profile for opportunities. OMERS is one of Canada’s leading pension funds with than $55 billion in assets. Borealis Infrastructure has proven experience and a sound reputation as an effective partner with a patient, long-term, low risk investment model.

The combination of Teranet’s intellectual capital and operational expertise with Borealis Infrastructure’s financial capital and infrastructure investment-financing expertise creates a unique value proposition for Ireland as Teranet seeks to expand internationally. Teranet, through a long-term partnership with the Law Society and in co-operation with Revenue, the PRA, and lenders, seeks to significantly improve the efficiency, transparency, speed, predictability and cost of the property transfer system in Ireland through the automation of the routine aspects of the conveyancing process and the use of an electronic conveyancing hub by all solicitors and lenders. A direct link to the PRA is envisioned to secure virtually real time registration and also to Revenue to facilitate payment of transfer taxes and property taxes. On transaction close, the system will ensure all requirements of the conveyance have been satisfied and all relevant parties’ obligations have been met. Funds will flow electronically on the day of close to ensure all disbursements have been completed and confirmed.

Teranet proposes to fund the design and build, and to own and operate the e-conveyancing system and will generate revenue through value-added transaction fees collected by solicitors on behalf of their clients. Interfacing with the hub will bring significant benefits for all stakeholders, including increased efficiencies, reduced costs, reduced risk and improved reporting capacity on conveyancing transactions. We see contracts being developed to ensure everyone's interests are protected through this process.

We have invested more than €300,000 over the past 36 months to complete a preliminary assessment and due diligence study, working in formal partnership with the Law Society and with the support and involvement of the Irish Banking Federation, IBF, the PRA and BearingPoint Ireland to assess the feasibility of an electronic conveyancing system for the Republic of Ireland. Through an extensive stakeholder consultation process, we collectively have confirmed that e-conveyancing is an achievable goal with significant benefits for all stakeholders. It is supporting the Government’s e-business initiatives and is a sustainable business model. Solicitor and lender consultation has reinforced the acceptance of the need for change, a recognition of the productivity and efficiency gains and a better conveyancing experience for citizens and stakeholders.

We have also engaged local legal counsel to understand the competition, data protection, intellectual property, privacy and consumer protection legislation and regulations and we are confident that the structure of our model and agreements that would be negotiated would satisfy and-or exceed all Government and stakeholder interests. Under the envisioned model, Teranet Ireland - we would set up an organisation in Ireland - is committed to expend approximately €500,000 to establish a corporate entity in Ireland to manage the development, roll-out and operations of the e-conveyancing system and to invest €6 million to design and build a world class bespoke end-to-end conveyancing system with our strategic partner, BearingPoint Ireland. We will leverage our experience, intellectual property, capabilities and systems that we have developed in Canada. However, the service will be built in Ireland and serve the specific needs of the Irish e-conveyancing community. Initially, we will create ten to 12 full-time positions in Ireland and utilise an Irish IT firm to host and support the e-conveyancing system in Ireland, and we will make a direct contribution to the economy of approximately €50 million in operational expenditures over the life of the long-term contract.

We look forward to working in close co-operation with all stakeholders and State agencies to design, build and implement an e-conveyancing solution which has robust governance and oversight arrangements in place to protect the interests of all parties, including consumers. We are confident that the combination of our reputation and success in working with government agencies, solicitors, lenders and other partners will enable us to collaboratively facilitate the reformation of the e-conveyancing processes in Ireland for the benefit of citizens today and in the future. I am happy to answer any questions members may have.