Digital property exchange platform PEXA has appointed Julian Wells as its new UK head of communications as the company continues to expand its presence across the UK property market.
Wells joins the fintech with experience spanning marketing, strategy, mortgages and financial services innovation, having worked across start-ups, scale-ups and large international organisations.
His appointment comes as both government and industry push to accelerate the digitisation of the UK’s home buying process, with increasing attention focused on modernising the country’s property transaction infrastructure.
Originally launched in Australia, PEXA operates a digital settlement platform designed to streamline property transactions by enabling funds to move securely between parties at completion.
FRAGMENTED SYSTEM
The firm entered the UK market in 2022 and has since been developing technology aimed at modernising a system that many industry participants say remains heavily paper-based and fragmented.
PEXA has already begun establishing partnerships within the UK sector. The company agreed a partnership with NatWest last July and in September launched its full sale and purchase proposition as part of its broader UK rollout.
ACADEMIC INSIGHT
Wells also brings academic insight into the impact of technology on financial services. In 2025 he completed a professional doctorate examining how digital innovation is reshaping financial services business models, with a particular focus on the mortgage sector.
His research concluded that one of the biggest barriers to innovation in mortgage lending is the structure of the property transaction process itself, arguing that full digitisation could drive significant changes in how homes are bought, sold and financed in the UK.
Based at PEXA’s UK headquarters in Leeds, Wells will lead communications activity within the company’s marketing function while helping to raise its profile among lenders, brokers, conveyancers and technology partners.
CRITICAL JUNCTION
Wells says: “I am delighted to be joining PEXA at what I think is a really exciting phase in its UK growth.
“Recent months have seen an increasing amount of government and industry activity in relation to digitisation within the home buying process, and we are in a critical period for lenders, brokers, conveyancers, tech firms and many others involved in this process.
“Joining PEXA gives me the opportunity to be a part of this change, and to help play a role in the rollout of critical new digital infrastructure.”
