COG Aggregation’s biggest strength is its biggest weakness

If any recovery is better than no recovery at all, then the asset and equipment (A&E) broking space has something to be optimistic about right now.

That’s the message emerging from the latest results of COG Aggregation, Australia’s largest A&E aggregator.

COG financed $4.5 billion in net assets in the first half of its financial year ending 31 December, a 7% year-on-year increase.

This follows a tough 2025 financial year, when group volumes fell 5%. The second half of 2025 was particularly painful for COG, when, for the first time on record, it posted a year-on-year volume decline in what is typically its stronger half.

But since then, broker engagement has picked up in line with a cyclical improvement in A&E finance.

Speaking to MPA, COG Aggregation head Mark Rayson (pictured, right) said about 47% of brokers recorded lower volumes in the latest reporting period. While that figure hardly sounds like a cause for celebration, it marks a sharp improvement on the second half of 2025, when 67% of COG brokers were going backwards.

Sure, “I don't think we're in any boom cycle”, said Rayson, but the wheels of recovery are in motion.

Read more: Business credit demand surges 5.1% in December

COG’s volume recovery is being partially driven by a backlog of financing decisions finally coming through the system. “Some of the growth that we've had this year will be some cleaned-up demand from the prior year,” Rayson said, noting that in asset finance, unlike housing, borrowers can only defer upgrades for so long.

Sticking to your knitting

In the age of diversification, COG is unapologetically sticking to its lane in A&E finance, although Rayson knows that cuts both ways.

“I suppose fundamentally you would say it's a strength and a weakness at the same time,” Rayson said when asked whether the group’s specialist focus is a vulnerability compared to diversified aggregators.

COG has “decided to commercially stick to our knitting in terms of being a specialist” by doubling down on brokers who live and breathe asset finance rather than dabbling at the margins.

“We build our business around people that wake up in the morning thinking about financing trucks and cars and earth moving and that sort of stuff; they're the brokers that we endeavour to attract,” Rayson said.

Yet that’s not the whole picture.

There are currently 1,860 specialist brokers across Australia working directly under COG (up 4% year on year). In addition, more than 9,000 mortgage brokers are accredited through COG’s strategic partnerships business, Platform Finance. These mortgage brokers refer their asset finance clients to Platform who then manage the end-to-end loan process, while brokers retain client ownership and earn an additional revenue stream.

Platform Finance enjoyed a 15% jump in consumer lending and a 16% jump in personal loans in the first half.

Damian Mantini (pictured, left), head of strategic partnerships at Platform Finance, said brokers were playing an increasingly important role in helping customers navigate cost-of-living pressures and changing financial priorities.

This is forcing brokers to look outside the residential lending corner many paint themselves into.

“We’re seeing strong demand from customers looking to consolidate debt and get their finances in order, with personal lending emerging as a key solution,” said Mantini.

“We’re investing heavily in AI and technology to make asset finance faster, smarter and easier for brokers and their customers,” he added. “Automation and AI-driven workflows are reducing manual processes and improving turnaround times, so brokers can write more deals, settle faster and deliver a better experience for customers.”

Countering the cycle

COG’s salary packaging (an arrangement where an employee receives part of their remuneration as a novated lease on a car) arm is also emerging as a counterweight to softer conditions in A&E finance. It has given the group exposure to public sector and large corporate employees that tend to be less volatile than the SME space.

In the latest half, salary packaging delivered revenue of $38.6 million, up 41% on the prior corresponding period. This was partially driven by government incentives encouraging electric vehicle uptake.

During the period, COG strengthened this segment through the acquisition of Easifleet and enhancing its Paywise offering.

All in all, Rayson reckons COG can shake off last year’s bruising outcome, even if the market isn’t exactly going gangbusters.

“The utilisation we’re seeing across our broker network, combined with the investments we’ve made in technology and capability, gives us confidence in the outlook,” he said. “This result shows the strength of staying focused on our core – supporting brokers to grow their businesses and deliver for their customers. The result reinforces the value of partnering with a specialist asset finance aggregator.”