The core of the new Cofunds platform has been built, it was revealed this morning.

The basis of the new system that both Cofunds and Aegon users will move to has been developed, three months on from the takeover deal being completed.

It is based on the Aegon Retirement Choices platform.

Aegon said it was a “substantial milestone towards integration of the two services”.

In a statement, it said: “Unlike a traditional replatforming project, Aegon is not building a new platform from scratch, and will instead combine the best of both the Cofunds and Aegon services on its proven platform technology.

“Now that the foundation of the new platform has been built, Aegon will begin adding features from the Cofunds platform that intermediaries have highlighted that they value. These include pre-funding of trades and debit card acceptance which do not currently exist on the Aegon platform, while Cofunds users will also benefit from access to a wider investment range, an integrated pension and a reduction in paper processes.”

Aegon said it has reassured its Advisory Board, comprising 30 firms that represent intermediaries, it will focus on ensuring:
• client transaction history is retained
• clients remain fully invested
• there are no change to logins

Bosses expect to be in a position to begin transferring Cofunds users to the enhanced platform towards the end of the year.

Aegon users will follow and the expectation is that they will be in a position to move in the first half of 2018, the company stated.

Cofunds’ functionality will become available on the current Aegon platform ahead of the move.

Mark Till, chief distribution and marketing officer at Aegon said: “Just three months on from the completion of the deal and we already have the foundation of the new service which both Cofunds and Aegon intermediaries will use in place. In the coming weeks and months we’ll begin adding features from Cofunds so that we’re able to offer users the best of both platforms. We have a great deal of confidence in our integration approach which is based on technology and processes that we know well.

“Since the completion of the deal we’ve had productive conversations with users of both the Cofunds and Aegon platforms which have helped us to prioritise our activity and shape our thinking. Feedback both in the field and at the Board has been positive with the majority of intermediaries supportive of our approach.

“We know our success will ultimately depend on delivering on our plans and maintaining a regular dialogue with the platforms’ users. However, we believe that by putting intermediaries at the heart of this process and focusing on delivering the tools and service which help them to manage their business more effectively and profitability that together we’ll be successful.”