SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA March 23, 2021 Corporate and superannuation trustee Certane Group and superannuation administration platform Recreo today announced a merger to unlock the potential of both companies and create a best of breed technology solution for the industry.
Certane Group Chairman, Lindsay Tanner, said the merger would be transformative for both businesses and aligned with Certane’s strategy of investing in technology-enabled financial services that deliver greater transparency and customer outcomes.
Recreo is a cloud-based, secure and scalable platform that can serve all segments of the superannuation and funds management industries, providing clients with next-generation integration capabilities, configurable workflows and expert industry knowledge to remove the burden of legislative compliance, while reducing operating costs.
“Recreo began with the vision to simplify the complexities of superannuation and investment administration. They have re-created the way administration services are delivered to the superannuation and investment industries through their OneTrust administration platform. It is a proven platform with $12 billion in funds already running on it,” Mr Tanner said.
“We believe the combination of our respective next generation technology solutions has the potential to transform the provision of services to the financial services industry. Existing platforms are using outdated technology that presents various challenges, including meeting increasingly complex regulatory requirements. The industry is sagging under the weight of incumbent infrastructure and needs to better harness technology to deliver improved member outcomes.”
Certane and Recreo have a signed a Binding term sheet and expect to complete the transaction before the end of May, subject to customary conditions.
Chairman of Mine Super, Grahame Kelly, said the merger meant that Recreo’s platform would become more widely used and further investment would deliver additional features which would be attractive to other funds. Mine Super has been a major shareholder in Recreo since 2015.
“From the beginning it was our strategy to provide the kind of configurability, functionality and user experience that would attract other funds to the platform. We have built a complete solution that delivers efficiencies, improves compliance and transparency, and frees up fund managers and promoters to focus on growth and their members,” Mr Kelly said.
“Under the merger there will be more investment in the functionality of the platform to deliver an exceptional experience for users and lowers costs and attract other Australian superannuation funds seeking a modern technology solution.”
Outgoing chief executive of Mine Super, Harry Mitchell, a driving force behind the development of the platform, will be joining its senior executive leadership team as Recreo Managing Director. Mr Mitchell is a senior financial services executive with over 20 years’ experience in banking, wealth management and law enforcement in Australia and the UK. Certane currently provides trustee services to 27 Australian superannuation funds, with a full range of trustee, custody, debt and capital markets, securitisation and agency services, and expertise to help clients successfully launch and grow their funds and financial products.
