AegonSep 21 2017

Aegon to overhaul Cofund's adviser services

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Aegon to overhaul Cofund's adviser services

Aegon has revealed how it is changing the service it provides to financial advisers on the Cofunds platform.

Aegon acquired Cofunds in August 2016, and has been integrating the platforms since then.

In September it announced the platform will have the capacity to hold funds not denominated in sterling, tax exempt funds and Property Authorised Investment Funds (PIAF).

The company announced in March it will allow advisers to personalise the platform.  

The IPS Service allows advisers to manage the investments they run on the platform.

This operation currently employs around 190 people across two offices but will now relocate entirely to Witham in Essex.

Aegon already has an office in Withan, and a spokesman for the provider said it expects the total number of people it employs in the operations and adviser teams to grow from around 300 to 350 in the coming years.

The closure of the current Hove office is likely to happen in mid-2018.

Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services, which uses the Cofunds platform, said he has always dealt with the Witham office and welcomed the “continuity” the changes would bring.  

Ian Lowes, managing director at Lowes Financial Management, said: “As a business that has approaching £400m on the Cofunds platform we have a keen interest on how all of this develops.

"Obviously having developed our in house procedures and systems around the current operation we would ideally welcome little change.”

Legal & General has agreed to sell Cofunds to Aegon back in August 2016 in a £140m deal, ending months of speculation about the future of the platform.

FTAdviser first reported that Aegon was a potential buyer of Cofunds back in February, and several market commentators heralded the move as “game-changing”.

L&G purchased Cofunds for a cash consideration of £131m back in March 2013.

According to the L&G, Cofunds was hit by outflows of £700m during the first six months of 2016.

The sell-off included the Investor Portfolio Service platform, as well as Cofunds’ retail and institutional business.

At the time of announcing the deal Aegon revealed it expected to generate a yearly cost saving of £60m across its UK business by buying Cofunds.

david.thorpe@ft.com