MDS & Libertas offer tools to build it yourself.

My Dealer Services Pty Ltd (MDS) Chairman Don Wiggins has announced that the specialist support service provider for advisers seeking their own Australia Financial Services Licence (AFSL) has teamed together with Libertas Solutions Pty Ltd (Libertas) in a strategic partnership to address growing demand by advisers to operate under their own licence, not only as an individual, but now also as a group.

Don Wiggins also confirmed that the MDS – Libertas strategic partnership has achieved their first success by setting up and providing the back office infrastructure for a group of 20 advisory practices that came together to establish their own dealer group.

Following the success of its first licence offering, Libertas Managing Director Mark Euvrard confirmed that plans were well advanced to launch a new offering in early October.

“The vision of Libertas is to allow advisers with similar interests and marketplace offering to join forces and operate under a dealer group that is specifically focused on their very unique needs and requirements”, said Euvrard.

“At the same time, they are able to outsource the dealer group services to an industry professional thus allowing the advisers to focus on their clients and related business activities”.

The benefits of the Libertas small focussed dealer group approach versus the larger option are significant added Euvrard sighting low PI excess and costs, quality independent research, ongoing CPD offering, commission with Fee Disclosure Statement capabilities and strategy focussed PD days.

All these positives combine to make the independent AFSL offering by MDS and Libertas quite compelling.

Supporting the Libertas experience, Don Wiggins said that the number of enquiries from advisers wishing to set up their own licence has continued unabated all year and he expects that this will continue into the foreseeable future. This new group offering gives advisers a new option in the independent AFSL space.

“The driving force behind the interest in MDS and Libertas is the demand from advisers seeking a viable cost effective alternative that provides them with independence and control over their destiny whilst operating within a fully compliant team / collegiate environment”.

“The MDS – Libertas AFSL facility has been developed so that any group of individual advisers can move right in without the wait normally associated with starting a dealer group from scratch”, concluded Don Wiggins.

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Increase in dealers opting to operate under their own licence.

My Dealer Services Pty Ltd (MDS) Chairman Don Wiggins has announced that the specialist support service provider for advisers seeking their own Australia Financial Services Licence (AFSL) is experiencing a significant increase in demand by practice owners opting to operate under their own licence.

Commenting on the escalated activity being addressed by MDS, Don Wiggins said there were many and diverse factors influencing advisers and certainly greater flexibility, independence and dealer group dissatisfaction featured prominently – and in doing so, reflecting many of the results in CoreData’s recent research.

“The CoreData findings that 23.3% of advises expect to switch licensees in the next 12 months with 14.3% intending to take out their own AFSL is being borne out right now and the industry can expect this trend to continue into the foreseeable future”, said Wiggins.

Over the past four years, MDS has assisted in obtaining more than 50 AFSL’s for advisers with the most dramatic increase in activity recorded in the last six months. MDS boasts a senior management team of experienced financial services professionals with extensive and personal industry sector insight. This ‘hands on’ expertise is reflected in the organisation’s 100% success rate to support advisers AFSL endeavours.

Don Wiggins continued, “The MDS marketplace offering has been developed as a means of providing specialist services to assist and support advisers to acquire their own AFSL in a practical cost effective manner. In addition, MDS assists licensees in their compliance obligations, training and adherence to ongoing regulatory requirements”.

“Another reason for the MDS’s success is the flexibility of its services that can be personalised to the individual needs of advisers and an impressive track record and industry reputation, has helped the company grow to the point today where it oversees everything for the entire back office to compliance needs only, for in excess of 20 AFSL holders”.

MDS expects that once FoFA is bedded down; and the realisation that it is manageable could provide the motivation for advisers to part from with their often rigid licensees, and provide advice under an AFSL that is more appropriate to the needs of their clients. Especially if advisers outsource the ‘back office’ to a reliable and experienced business which in turn will allow them to put most of their efforts into servicing clients and not on the licence management.

“The convenience of controlling one’s own destiny, but leaving the back office to others at a cost usually far less than one that is currently required to be paid to the traditional dealer, is a compelling argument to take out one’s own AFSL”, concluded Don Wiggins.

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