Montreal-based Peak Financial Group is continuing to expand, as HBO Financial Services joins forces with Peak’s insurance dealer arm, Peak Insurance Services, after an eight-year partnership.
Founded in 1997, by James Hindley, Larry Barakett and Boris Ozbalt, Beaconsfield, Que.-based HBO is a boutique Managing General Agency (MGA), catering to a group of 40 advisors working predominantly in the high net worth markets in Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
Peak Insurance Services provides access to more than 20 insurance companies and business development services to advisors in six offices across Canada.
The new deal comes two years after Peak Insurance joined forces with Customplan Financial Advisors Inc., a Vancouver-based MGA.
See: A new type of deal
Boris Ozbalt, president and CEO of HBO, joins the management team as director of business development at Peak Insurance Services.
“Boris has more than 30 years of experience in the Canadian financial services industry, more specifically in living benefits. He will be playing a key role with our business partners as well as in the growth of the network,” says Robert Frances, president and CEO of Peak Financial Group.
Ozbalt holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, several specializations and is a guest lecturer at the McGill University Desautels Faculty of Management.
Peak Financial Group has over $7 billion in assets under administration, with a network of more than 1,300 financial advisors and professionals offering in insurance, wealth management, mutual funds, securities and financial planning. The group consists of four member companies — Peak Investment Services Inc., Peak Financial Services Inc., Peak Securities Inc. and Peak Insurance Services Inc. — and 1 division — Peak Private Wealth.