COG merger creates biggest asset finance services business

COG Financial Services Limited, Australia’s largest asset finance broker aggregator and distribution network in Australia, will merge its two aggregation arms to form the nation’s biggest asset finance services business.

To be known as COG Aggregation, the company will bring together Platform Finance and Consolidated Finance Group (CFG).

COG Aggregation was revealed at the COG Asset Finance Broker's Conference held on the Gold Coast on October 6 and 7. More than 300 people attended the annual conference, including brokers and funders from around Australia.

COG said the merger of the two businesses meant COG Aggregation could combine its resources, systems and services, making them available to all COG Aggregation members.

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It also makes the group responsible for $6.7bn in volume – the largest pool of asset finance volume in Australia.

Based in Sydney with operations nationally, COG Aggregation is a car and equipment finance aggregator that has been around for more than 20 years, boasting Australia’s largest panel of asset finance lenders (more than 40).

Platform Finance is the dedicated strategic partnerships division that works in conjunction with COG Aggregation and solely assists mortgage brokers with their asset finance needs.

There are also a number of retail brands under the COG group umbrella including Melbourne Finance, Mildura Finance, Platform Direct Finance, beCarWise, Fleet Network and Fleet Avenue. COG Aggregation and Platform Finance are owned by COG Financial Services Limited, one of the only listed asset finance aggregators in Australia.

The company said the Platform Finance brand would continue 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.   

Platform Finance head of strategic partnerships Damian Mantini (pictured above left) said the merger made “perfect sense”.

“Platform Finance and CFG have been working cooperatively for six years and sharing best practices – and we’re now in a position to fully integrate and unlock all of the benefits for our brokers,” Mantini 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.”

Mark Rayson (pictured above right), head of COG Aggregation, said the merger was an important part of unlocking more capability.

“It creates the largest, most cohesive and nimble asset finance aggregation company in Australia,” Rayson said.

“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.

“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.”

Rayson said the key benefits of the merge for brokers include:

• Greater support: Platform Finance maintains its strong, standalone BDM and broker support team for mortgage broker partners, while COG Aggregation staff have been unified into a team of five BDMs and dedicated broker support for asset finance brokers. Both teams have been scaled up to meet the growing needs of the group’s network and growth strategy
• Simpler transacting: the merging of the two lender panels from each group allows all members to access to Australia’s largest and most diverse asset finance lending panel
• A wider spectrum of funders and services: the new structure means brokers will have access to the best funders and services to suit the needs of themselves and their clients
• Superior services: it will enable the group to focus our efforts and investment in one place including sales support, data insights, technology and processing support.

COG also launched its proprietary asset finance client management and loan application system at the conference, in a further enhancement of its services for brokers.

Read next: What's driving demand for asset finance?

Rayson said COG’s core platform had been redeveloped after many years of investment and enhancements, and the result was “the most complete, dedicated asset finance processing system in the market”.

“COG Connect simplifies product selection and handles both consumer and commercial asset finance,” he said.

“It includes full product selection logic covering over 9,000 combinations of products and credit policies across the group’s panel of 45 funders. It also has a host of other tools to make brokers’ and customers’ lives easier, including customer self-service, automated compliance, and granular reporting.

Rayson said COG was very excited about COG Connect’s capabilities and how it will assist brokers, particularly with transacting consumer business.

“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.”