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A new, ASX-listed asset finance aggregation company handling around $6.7 billion in loans will be formed following the merger of two aggregators.
ASX-listed asset finance group COG Financial Services (COG) has announced it is merging its two aggregation companies: Platform Finance and Consolidated Finance Group (CFG).
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The merged aggregation company, COG Aggregation, is expected to become the largest asset finance services broking business in the country — responsible for $6.7 billion in asset finance volume.
The merger took effect as of 6 October, with unification progressing over the rest of the year.
The new group has over 700 individual broker members across around 250 broking business.
According to COG, the merger would combine the two companies’ resources, systems and services, making them available to all COG Aggregation members, and benefiting from efficiencies of scale and a combined lender panel.
It is believed the 45-strong lender panel would be one of Australia’s largest asset finance lending panels, giving asset finance broker members a wider spectrum of funders and services.
COG Aggregation will have a team of five business development managers (BDMs) and dedicated broker support for asset finance brokers.
The Platform Finance brand will continue to exist and be used by the group’s strategic partnerships business, providing white-labelled sales and processing support to mortgage brokers who have diversified into asset finance.
It will maintain its standalone BDM and broker support team for mortgage broker partners.
Mark Rayson, the former managing director of COG, has been named as the head of COG Aggregation Services.
Mr Rayson commented: “This merger is an important part of unlocking more capability and creates the largest, most cohesive and nimble asset finance aggregation company in Australia.
“Platform Finance and CFG are both powerful standalone providers of asset finance services to brokers around the country. They are market leaders in their segments, and this strategic union will combine their complementary strengths in asset finance and make them available in one place,” noting that the merger would help the group focus their efforts and investment into one place — focusing on sales support, data insights, technology and processing support.
The head of COG Aggregation added: “It’s great news for our brokers who now fall into two distinct streams: mortgage brokers who diversify in asset finance will work with Platform Finance, and dedicated asset finance brokers will work with COG Aggregation.”
Damian Mantini, head of strategic partnerships, will continue to be responsible for Platform Finance.
He said the merger made “perfect sense” given that the two companies had been working “cooperatively for six years and sharing best practices”.
“[W]e’re now in a position to fully integrate and unlock all of the benefits for our brokers,” he said.
“We’ll be delivering an enhanced, but still personalised experience to our brokers and aggregator partners.
“This union will allow us to accelerate our scalability to continue to grow and improve our offering.”
New core platform launched
As well as announcing its new aggregation structure, COG has also recently launched its proprietary asset finance client management and loan application system.
The redeveloped core platform, COG Connect, simplifies product selection and handles both consumer and commercial asset finance.
The group said the platform was “the most complete, dedicated asset finance processing system in the market”, covering over 9,000 combinations of products and credit policies, and provides brokers with time-saving efficiencies, including customer self-service, automated compliance, and granular reporting.
“We’re very excited about COG Connect’s capabilities and how it will assist brokers, particularly with transacting consumer business,” Mr Rayson said.
“It will help future-proof brokers’ businesses, and they will benefit from a raft of further improvements, coming online in early November, and an ambitious ongoing development plan.”
COG now comprises COG Aggregation, and Platform Finance, as well as a number of retail brands under the COG umbrella including Melbourne Finance, Mildura Finance, Platform Direct Finance, beCarWise, Fleet Network and Fleet Avenue.
The group has been growing recently, announcing several acquisitions — including non-bank lender Equity One for the Westlawn subsidiary, and taking larger stakes in Chevron Equipment Finance — as it expands its asset finance presence.
[Related: COG saw 30% rise in broker volumes in FY22]
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