Alexander Euvrard

Self-licensing specialist My Dealer Services (MDS) expects even stronger growth in 2026 as more financial advisers look to take control of their businesses and come to understand the associative risk of working under large licensees following ASIC suing Interprac Financial Planning over the failure of two large funds.

Interprac is being sued for alleged failures around the now collapsed Shield and First Guardian investment funds where more than 6,500 superannuitants were advised to invest around $677 million.

MDS Managing Director Alex Euvrard said the fund collapses had shaken many advisers and made them realise the potentially costly associative and reputational dangers of being associated with licensees especially as many of the systems, processes and even APL selection is out of their control. This has been especially highlighted through platform providers refusing to take on new clients from advisers under Interprac.

“MDS has already received a number of approaches from advisers wanting more control over their own destiny. Advisers like self-licensing as a way to control their business and make their own choices about how they treat their clients and where they place their money without the scrutiny of a parent licensee and being dictated to by templates. The greatest thing about the advancement of technology and services is that smaller licensees can now access and plug in support services that deliver leading compliance, software, investment and practice management solutions, functions traditionally held with the larger licensees.” he added.

“MDS grew the number of self-licensees it services by 20 per cent to 120 in 2025 and despite up to 15 per cent of the industry forecast to potentially depart at the end of the year because of the introduction of two pathways to remain on the Financial Adviser Register, we are proud that we have already managed to shepherd all of our more than 400 adviser members through the rigours of the new requirements,” Euvrard said.

MDS Head of Strategy Ashley Mahadeea said the rapidly growing business had managed to continue to swell its membership base following a sold-out full day briefing event in Sydney and by hosting a series of roundtable lunches around the country that helped members feel the sense of community within MDS.

“MDS has also introduced 10 new and five enhanced supplier partnerships this year that give MDS members access as well as pricing benefits to best-in-class providers. These included platinum and gold partnerships with Morningstar, HUB24, Lonsec and intelliflo.

“We remain dedicated to empowering members with resources and partnerships that drive better client outcomes. Carefully selecting the right product and service providers to support MDS members is another step toward that commitment.

“In 2026 we will continue to provide hands on compliance solutions for our members, increase our advocacy work to explain the benefits of self-licensing and uplift our internal technology to create more efficiency for the business and our members,” Mahadeea added.

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Ashley Mahadeea

Self-licensing specialist My Dealer Services (MDS) has continued its strong growth spurt, successfully adding 15 new AFSLs as members since January 2025, increasing the number of self-licenced practices it supports by more than 10 percent to 110 AFSLs.

MDS has also rolled out a tranche of five additional service offerings to its network of 400 financial advisers across Australia as it develops a more extensive support service via partnerships. This brings to 10 the number of new offerings it has provided to members so far this year.

In the latest service enhancement, MDS has partnered with Retiremap Quantum to provide members with cost effective access to financial advice modelling solutions and with pricing consultant Peloton Partners, which specialises in accurately pricing financial advice services, ensuring businesses capture their full value while maintaining fairness and transparency.

MDS has also announced a partnership with intelliflo, a global leader in Advicetech, including practice management and digital client engagement software, as well as with Tardigrade Capital, which is expert at helping advisers and their clients better understand and evaluate private asset investment options – especially in the private credit sector.

Furthermore, MDS has unveiled its first Platinum Partner in Morningstar whose breadth of capabilities across financial planning tools, management accounts and investment research solutions, helps its members simplify their day-to-day activities.

Working on expanding MDS’s partnership programme, MDS Head of Strategy Ashley Mahadeea maintains that quality trumps quantity when it comes to partnership and every decision made is in the best interest of members.

“We remain dedicated to empowering members with resources and partnerships that drive better client outcomes. Carefully selecting the right product and service providers to support MDS members is another step toward that commitment,” he said.

MDS Director and Founder Alexander Euvrard said the recent enhancements showed the company was on track with its stated goals of supporting more advisers through the self-licensing process and providing a wider range of additional business-building services to its adviser community.

“Over the coming months, we will be reaching out further to the wider adviser community 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 Euvrard said.

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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.

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Ashley Mahadeea

Self licensing specialist My Dealer Services (MDS) has appointed Ashley Mahadeea as Head of Strategy as the company looks to significantly grow the depth of services it provides as well as the number of self-licensed advisers it equips and supports.

MDS was established 12 years ago and since then has helped more than 500 businesses set up their own ACL or AFSL license. It currently provides around 100 subscribed ASFL clients with compliance and business support and access to a community of advisers without the constraints or conflicts that can arise with large licensee dealer groups.

Ash is an expert at advising FinTech start-ups and growth-phase companies on launch strategies, strategic planning, competitive analysis, and business development. He has joined MDS from global wealth-tech firm GBST, where he was Head of Client Partnerships. Prior to this he had the same role with Advice Intelligence for six years. Advice Intelligence is a provider of cloud-based end-to-end financial planning software which was taken over by GBST in the middle of last year.

Ash has also worked as a financial adviser and is currently National Deputy Chair of the Gen Next Community of Practice at the Financial Advice Association Australia to facilitate the transfer of knowledge, skills, experience and networks from experienced advisers to those starting their financial advice career.

MDS Director and founder Alexander Euvrard said Ash’s depth of experience working with financial advisers and involvement in high impact industry initiatives would help MDS achieve its growth agenda.

“Ash’s role is to help drive this growth through strong client relationships, product innovation and developing solutions to advisers’ problems. Over the coming months, we will be reaching out to more advisers to share our core belief that self-licensing is nothing more than removing a layer to allow advisors and practices to run the business their way, with the client front and centre of everything they do,” he said.

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