HollisWealth was a Canadian investment dealer and mutual fund dealer that operated as a subsidiary of Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) before being acquired by iA Financial Group in 2017. It served independent financial advisors and their clients across Canada. Following the acquisition, HollisWealth was rebranded and restructured into two separate dealer entities: Investia Financial Services Inc. and iA Private Wealth Inc., both of which continue to operate under the iA Financial Group umbrella.
Website: N/A — no longer operating under this name
Former parent company: Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank); acquired by iA Financial Group in 2017
Current successors: Investia Financial Services Inc. and iA Private Wealth Inc., both subsidiaries of iA Financial Group
Note: HollisWealth no longer exists as an independent entity. This page documents its history. For coverage of the successor platform, see the iA Securities and iA Financial Group profiles.
What was HollisWealth?
HollisWealth operated as a full-service investment dealer offering a broad shelf of investment products and services through a network of independent advisors. Its offering included:
- access to a wide range of investment products including mutual funds, segregated funds, equities, fixed income, and alternative investments
- financial and retirement planning services for individual clients
- practice management support, compliance infrastructure, and back-office services for independent advisor teams
- insurance and estate planning solutions
The firm served as Scotiabank's vehicle for distributing wealth management products through the independent advisor channel — a segment that the bank ultimately chose to exit, leading to the sale to iA Financial Group.
HollisWealth in the market
The iA Financial Group acquisition of HollisWealth in 2017 was a significant transaction in the Canadian independent dealer market. At the time of the sale, HollisWealth had more than 1,400 advisors and represented a substantial book of client assets. iA Financial Group split the acquired advisor network into two streams: advisors who were mutual fund dealers moved to Investia Financial Services, while those operating under a full investment dealer licence moved to what became iA Private Wealth. iA Private Wealth subsequently expanded through further acquisitions, including the purchase of the brokerage arm of Laurentian Bank's securities business, and as of 2024 operated a network of more than 800 advisors nationwide.
The HollisWealth transaction illustrated a broader structural shift in the Canadian wealth management market, as bank-owned dealers shed independent advisor networks while specialist firms like iA Financial Group consolidated them into scaled, advisor-focused platforms.
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