First Atlantic Financial Inc. was founded in 1992 by Brendan Hunt. Brendan began his career in financial services in 1973 at the age of 20 with the Bank of Montreal in their branch management training program. From there, in 1975, he moved to the Royal Trust Company in their Estates and Trust department expanding his financial planning education.

The lure of the investment management industry hit in 1981 and Brendan made the move into it by joining the investment firm of Pitfield Mckay Ross, a forerunner of today’s RBC Dominion Securities. Upon joining the firm, a period of time was spent in Pitfield’s head office in Toronto training and becoming licensed as an IIROC registered representative dealing in stocks, bonds, options, futures and commodities. His career with the brokerage firm saw him develop investment portfolios for a varied clientele from individual traders to institutional investors.

During his 10-year tenure at Pitfield and later Dominion Securities he was introduced to the mutual fund industry. He found the concept of working with professionally managed funds much more compelling than choosing individual securities. Over the next few years he scrutinized different funds and their managers and the various strategies they utilized. He became a believer that professionally managed funds should be a core position of any investment portfolio. This was not a view shared by many brokerages at the time. This difference of opinion eventually sent Brendan to another firm, CIBC Wood Gundy, who at the time, were a little more conducive to the mutual fund platform.

Nevertheless, a brokerage firm’s basic objective was to move stock and the focus was to turn over stock positions. Brendan began to consider moving into the pure mutual fund industry. In 1990 there were many prominent mutual fund dealerships in Canada and Brendan began discussions with a number of them. He looked at opening a branch in St. John’s. However, at that time there was a news story on the front page of the Globe and Mail and later the Evening Telegram outlining the details of a “rogue” broker with a national fund dealership who had defrauded a client. Consequently, Brendan felt that despite one’s greatest efforts to run a reputable business, they could be over-ridden by the actions on someone merely associated with a national name. Accordingly, the concept of setting up an independent dealership began to take hold.

This concept became a reality in June 1992 when First Atlantic Financial Inc. was born.

Over the next 29 years First Atlantic Financial has quietly but consistently grown, servicing over 1000 clients.

In 2008, Brendan’s son, Ryan moved back to Newfoundland from Toronto to join the family business. As a computer science graduate and having worked in technology with some of Canada’s largest investment managers and insurance companies, Ryan brought a new perspective to First Atlantic Financial just as technology was beginning to disrupt the industry in a big way.

Now, as the investment industry continues to evolve, First Atlantic is evolving to provide the best investment experience for its clients with the addition of First Atlantic Private Wealth and the youngest Hunt, Claire, as a Portfolio Manager.