Family Office Licensing Solution
After several years operating Drew, Walk & Co. (DWC) as a corporate authorised representative (CAR) of a colleague’s Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), the firm’s directors decided to obtain an AFSL via an entity established solely for this purpose: DWC Advisory Partners Pty Ltd (“DWC Advisory Partners”) (ABN 68 690 31 482).
DWC Advisory Partners was granted its licence on 1 July 2026 (AFSL 700200).
The primary motivation behind the decision was to develop a family office licensing solution to serve DWC’s existing family office clients, especially where the family office staff supports the family office as well as one or more of the principal(s) and/ or their family group(s).
Such a solution would see the family office operating entity appointed as a CAR of DWC Advisory Partners and each advisor within the family office (e.g. the family office chief investment officer) appointed as an authorised representative of the CAR.
Such a solution has the following advantages:
Enables a more structured approach to the advice provided by family office staff to the principal(s) and/ or family group(s) associated with the familyoffice;
Better manages the legal/ compliance risk of the family office and its staff;
Drives a more structured approach to professional development for family office staff; and
Leverages the investment governance expertise and experience of DWC to the benefit of the family office.