Wellington-Altus Financial Inc. is one of Canada's fastest-growing independent financial services firms, headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 2017 by Shaun Hauser, it operates as the parent company of Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc. — Canada's top-rated investment dealer as measured by the Investment Executive Brokerage Report Card — along with affiliated entities spanning portfolio management, insurance, group solutions, and US-client advisory services. The firm targets entrepreneurial investment advisors and their high-net-worth clients, positioning independence, technology, and an unconstrained approach to advice as its core differentiators.
Website: wellington-altus.ca
Founder: Shaun Hauser (Founder and CEO, Wellington-Altus Financial Inc.)
Company type: Private; member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization
Regions served: Canada-wide, with offices across the country; US-client accounts served through Wellington-Altus USA
What does Wellington-Altus offer?
Wellington-Altus serves high-net-worth individuals, families, business owners, endowments, foundations, and institutional clients through a group of distinct but integrated operating subsidiaries. Its offering spans:
- full-service investment dealing and wealth management through Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc., covering equities, fixed income, managed accounts, and a broad range of investment products
- discretionary portfolio management through Wellington-Altus Private Counsel, which takes a planning-led approach for ultra-high-net-worth clients, endowments, foundations, and institutions; portfolios are built and managed by portfolio managers drawing on global institutional money managers via segregated and unified managed accounts
- advanced tax and estate planning, charitable giving strategies, and succession planning through the Advanced Wealth Planning Group
- insurance planning through Wellington-Altus Insurance, focused on income protection, wealth preservation, and philanthropic solutions from a needs-based, product-agnostic standpoint
- group retirement and benefits consulting for plan sponsors through Wellington-Altus Group Solutions
- managed accounts for US clients or Canadian clients with US-domiciled accounts, through Wellington-Altus USA, with custody services provided by RBC Advisor Services
A defining feature of Wellington-Altus is its advisor-centric model. The firm was built by advisors, for advisors: it imposes no sales quotas, no quarterly targets, and no profitability minimums on client accounts. Advisors are free to act in each client's best interests without the constraints of large corporate systems. The firm also operates a National Advisory Desk and a Women of Wellington programme to support advisor development and networking.
Wellington-Altus in the market
Wellington-Altus surpassed $50 billion in consolidated assets under administration in 2026 — a milestone it reached ahead of its own November 2026 target, having added more than $10 billion in the preceding nine months, representing organic growth of over 20 per cent. The firm reached that level in under a decade from its 2017 launch, which it described as driven by organic expansion and ongoing advisor recruitment. The June 2026 announcement of the $50 billion milestone came alongside confirmation that Wellington-Altus Private Wealth had been named Canada's top-rated investment dealer in the Investment Executive Brokerage Report Card for the seventh consecutive year, earning an overall rating of 9.4 out of 10 and leading in 20 of the report card's 27 categories. Wellington-Altus Financial has also been recognised as one of Canada's Top Growing Companies by Report on Business.
In a Canadian wealth management landscape still dominated by the major bank-affiliated dealers and insurance-owned networks, Wellington-Altus has positioned itself as the leading choice for advisors seeking genuine independence. Its growth has been principally organic, driven by attracting established advisor teams from larger institutions who are drawn to the firm's agile technology, entrepreneurial culture, and freedom from institutional sales constraints. The result is a firm that, in nine years, has assembled a national footprint that competes directly with organisations that have operated for decades. The firm's private counsel arm extends that proposition to ultra-high-net-worth clients and institutions that require fully discretionary portfolio management — giving Wellington-Altus reach across the full spectrum of the independent wealth advisory market.
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