Dutch insurer Aegon has completed the acquisition of Cofunds, the investment platform of Legal & General Group (L&G) in the UK for advisers and other financial institutions.
The deal, announced in August 2016, also includes the Investor Portfolio Service (IPS) platform and makes Aegon the largest platform provider in the UK.
Aegon CEO Adrian Grace said: “The completion takes us a major step further in our transition from traditional life company to fully-fledged platform business. Our focus now is to help intermediaries grow their business, grow their profitability and manage their risk and costs effectively.
“What will set us apart from the competition is our commitment not to compete with advisers for distribution, and focus on our investment trading platform and providing the best service and tools.”
Aegon also said that it plans to integrate Aegon and Cofunds platforms through a technology upgrade approach, instead of a traditional replatforming exercise that typically refers to the build of a platform and migration of customers to it.
The acquisition will also allow Cofunds customers to access a wider product range such as exchange traded funds, investment trusts, shares and an integrated pension, Aegon said. On the other hand, Aegon customers will be able to access existing Cofunds’ features including pre-funding of trades, debit card acceptance as well as an improvement to the investment selection process.
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Cofunds will continue to be headed by David Hobbs and will operate from its Witham, Essex headquarters.