Choosing the right Dealer Group for your business.

Looking to change Dealer Groups?

The conversation of Large Dealer Groups vs boutique dealer groups vs Self Licencing

Scale Isn’t the Holy Grail — Fit Is

Some industry pundits refer to scale in dealer groups as the Holy Grail. We take a different view. We invite you to compare your options and determine which model genuinely serves your business — not just in theory, but in day‑to‑day reality.

Large dealer groups

Large licensees offer extensive resources, broad compliance teams, and strong brand recognition. For some advisers, that stability and breadth of product choice is appealing. But scale comes with baggage. Many of these groups are long‑established, carrying legacy systems, legacy costs, and legacy issues. Advisers can find themselves paying for the consequences of past enforceable undertakings, higher PI premiums, and inflated fee structures. A quick look at the financials of any major dealer group shows that scale does not automatically translate to efficiency, profitability, or stability.

🏛️ Self‑Licensed

Self‑licensing offers complete independence — but it also comes with the full weight of ASIC obligations. Whether you’re large or small, the requirements are the same:

  • Monitoring & supervision

  • AFSL administration

  • Compliance meetings

  • Policy & procedure maintenance

  • Financial reporting

  • CPD tracking

  • PI insurance

  • Complaints handling

  • And more

Many advisers underestimate the time, expertise, and ongoing commitment required to run an AFSL. Too often, they discover the true workload only after they’ve taken the leap.

🎯 Boutique Dealer Groups

A well‑run boutique dealer group gives you the best of both worlds: the services and support you expect from a large licensee, without the unnecessary cost structures or bureaucratic drag.

Boutiques can offer:

• Personalised service

• Agility in product approvals

• A wide and flexible APL

• Strong compliance and supervision

• Lower licensing fees

• Direct access to decision‑makers

AD Advisory Services Pty Ltd has built an enviable track record over the past six years by delivering exceptional service, robust compliance, and a genuinely adviser‑centric environment. Our advisers run their businesses with confidence because they know we have everything else in hand.

Our fees reflect the efficiency of our model — you don’t pay for services you won’t use, and you’re not subsidising legacy issues from decades past

If you are paying more than 10% of your revenue to your current dealer group (including PI insurance), contact us today for a copy of our pricing schedule and see what you could be saving.



Technology Solutions

Having a fully implemented technology solution is essential in running an efficient, profitable advice business. This takes time and effort to source and customise to meet the needs of your business, often left incomplete with you saying “I’ll get to that later”.

We offer Intelliflo Financial Planning software, ready to use, with all the templates and automated workflows you need to run your practice efficiently. Fully integrated ellectronic signing, secure client portal for the exchange of documents, reducing cyber security risk and increasing efficiency. Whether you are a sole operator or a multi-adviser practice, all at a discount per licence over the commercial rate.

What we offer

Licensing Solutions

We offer a range of Financial Adviser authorisations designed to meet the specific needs of your practice. 

We offer high quality dealer group services backed by industry specialists. Our understanding of your needs is highly detail orientated in order to provide short and long term solutions. 

Our tiered authorisation solutions include Full authorisation, SMSF specialist authorisation, Risk specialist authorisation and specialist authorisation.

Highly competitive Fees

Our highly competitive fee structure offers a genuine alternative to self licencing, leaving you free to focus on your core business. We have the best PI insurance terms in the industry, with zero claims since starting in 2018.

We offer the core requirements for Advisers to be authorised to provide advice, you dont pay for any extras. We are highly selective about who we authorise in order to protect the wider group and to keep our fees down. If you are an experienced, compliant, well run advice business, contact us today about a more cost effective licensing solution for your business.

Customised Compliance

Licensee compliance is essential for best client advice. 

We embrace the highest standards of compliance and professional standards. . 

We meet and exceed these standards by integrating compliance into our processes. For the more complex issues we have a dedicated Professional Standards Team that includes internal compliance consultants, external first tier law firms and industry compliance experts with ASIC and AFCA experience which we retain for the benefit of the entire Dealer Group community. 

Our industry relationships are first class and nurtured with incredible attention in order to provide our clients with the upmost quality of specialist advice and support. We work with the best to bring you the best solutions to your business growth needs.