Chris Mather
Self-licensing specialist My Dealer Services (MDS) has secured access to Colonial First State’s (CFS) award winning FirstTech technical services team to provide its network of more than 400 financial advisers operating under 110 AFSLs with high quality technical support across a broad range of advice areas.
The educational partnership is the fourth new or enhanced service offering MDS has provided its rapidly growing member network this year as it embarks on a strategic growth initiative.
The Sydney-based company supported more than 20% of all Australian financial advisers who achieved self-licensing in 2024 and is working at a cracking pace to not only significantly grow its adviser network in 2025 but also its network support offerings.
MDS Director and Founder Alexander Euvrard said the educational partnership with CFS would provide MDS adviser members with the most up to date online technical reference and strategy guides covering a range of areas including superannuation, tax, self-managed super funds, aged care, social security and estate planning.
Members of the MDS community would also benefit from access to CFS FirstTech podcasts, webinars, monthly bulletins and fact sheets that could be shared with clients and used in client newsletters, he added.
CFS Business Executive Director of New Business, Chris Mather, welcomed the initiative and said “CFS is delighted to partner with MDS to help advisers deliver great outcomes for their clients.”
MDS Head of Strategy, Ashley Mahadeea said that apart from primarily guiding and supporting advisers through the self-licensing process, MDS was firmly focused on adding value by providing a wider range of additional services.
“Our educational partnership with CFS is a great example of how we do this. We go out on behalf of time-poor smaller adviser groups and find the best and most innovative providers in their field to support them as needed at competitive rates.
“Over the coming months, we will be launching additional services and reaching out to more advisers to share our core belief that self-licensing is nothing more than removing a layer to allow advisers and practices to run their business their way, with the client front and centre of everything they do,” Mr Mahadeea said.
This year MDS has also partnered with Claras, an Australian Fintech to provide advisers with a powerful AI-driven software tool to turn recorded conversations with clients into accurate, and comprehensive file notes that ensure data security. It has also launched a new paraplanning and administration service for its members wanting SOA creation support, in collaboration with Broker Support Global (BSG) which has large paraplanner and admin teams overseas as well as key staff in Australia.
The company has also rolled out a new MDS Licensee Compliance Portal which allows members to access a secure dashboard that keeps them abreast of all key compliance dates and requirements and provides access to a live newsfeed with the latest industry governance and regulatory updates.