The aggregator head has said COG’s strength lies in its broker network and specialised approach.
COG Aggregation head Mark Rayson has defended the company’s decision not to diversify away from asset finance and urged critics to look beyond headline financials when assessing its performance.
Speaking at COG’s Asset Finance Broker’s Conference in Brisbane on Wednesday (22 October), Rayson praised the company’s extensive network, describing it as a sign of strength and resilience.
“The story about aggregation isn’t just about whether your volume is going up or going down. It’s about how you look after your network and what things you do to improve the situation,” Rayson said.
Speaking exclusively to The Adviser, he also highlighted COG’s continued success at retaining brokers.
“The first thing for me is retention and looking after our existing brokers. We’ve been very good over the years at retaining brokers,” he said.
“So all of my sales staff, for example, aren’t incentivised around existing brokers. I pay them their salary to look after existing brokers… there’s an expectation that they put new brokers on, but the key focus [they have] is on existing brokers.”
Rayson also highlighted COG’s consistent broker growth, noting a 7 per cent increase in broker numbers during its 2025 financial year ending in June (FY25), with more than 8,000 new accreditations processed for both existing and new brokers.
COG’s finance broking and aggregation arm closed FY25 with 1,792 brokers from 794 brokerages operating under its network.
The company remains Australia’s largest asset finance broker and aggregator, holding around 25 per cent of the asset finance broking and aggregation market.
Despite its success in growing its network, COG’s aggregation businesses financed $8.4 billion in net assets over FY25, a slight drop from $8.9 billion the previous year. Revenues also dipped $10 million (4 per cent) to $233.2 million.
The financial results come at a time when several major aggregators have pushed into diversifying across the full range of brokered finance.
When asked, Rayson defended COG’s strategy to focus on asset and equipment finance.
“I still think this is a very specialised view and I think the skill set in doing it is still very specialised. So what we are seeing more of is not just brokers trying to diversify into asset finance, we’re actually seeing brokers going ‘I want to actually set up an asset finance business’,” Rayson said.
“So I still see value in the specialised model.”
When asked about what sets COG apart from its market rivals, Rayson said its competitive edge lies in its size and specialised focus on equipment finance.
“I think the size means that we attract a lot more lenders into the panel, which gives brokers more choice for where they put transactions,” Rayson said.
“The people we employ are solely focused around equipment finance. That’s all they know. All the guys I’ve got working, whether it’s our BDMS, whether it’s in our process, they’re all pointed at asset finance.”
Opportunity in AI
Looking ahead, Rayson said COG views AI as a long-term opportunity to improve broker efficiency and decision making.
“From our perspective, I think it [AI] is the way of the future,” he said.
Rayson flagged AI’s potential in helping suggest the best lender for clients, extract and organise policy information, and reduce manual work for brokers.
While cautious about overhyping the tech, Rayson said he saw potential for gradual adoption that improves workflows over time without risking transactions.
Rayson also identified an ageing fleet as a major opportunity, with growth in financing demand as older vehicles need replacing.
“The fleet age used to be 13 years. It’s now 15 years. That’s gonna have to come back to market at some stage,” he said.
[Related: COG hails lending diversification, but FY25 volumes slip]
