Electronic Titling: Potential and Risks

• Authors: Benito Arruñada.
• BSE Working Paper: 110924 | September 15
• Keywords: Electronic conveyancing , electronic registration , lawyers , notaries , digital signatures
• JEL codes: K11, K12, O33, L43
• Electronic conveyancing
• electronic registration
• lawyers
• notaries
• digital signatures

Initiatives in electronic conveyancing and registration show the potential of new technologies to transform such systems, reducing costs and enhancing legal security. However, they also incur substantial risks of transferring costs and risks among registries, conveyancers and rightholders, instead of reducing them; entrenching the private interests of conveyancers, instead of increasing competition and disintermediating them; modifying the allocation of tasks in a way that leads in the long term to the debasement of registries of rights with indefeasible title into mere recordings of deeds; and empowering conveyancers instead of transactors and rightholders, which increases costs and reduces security. Fulfilling the promise of new technologies in both costs and security requires strengthening registries’ incentives and empowering rightholders in their interaction with registries.