The East Hartford financial services firm Savino, Sturrock & Sullivan has dissolved after nearly 22 years in business.
The firm, which managed between $700 million and $800 million in assets, shut down July 1, due to philosophical differences among management over the future of the company, said Kenneth D. Savino, the former president of the firm.
Savino said he spent 28 years building up his practice, but decided to leave over a desire to join an independent broker dealer.
“As in any partnership dispute, whether professional or personal, there were a number of factors involved, but one of the main issues was the direction of the partners and where they saw their individual practices going,” Savino said.
Savino, Sturrock & Sullivan’s original broker dealer, Jefferson Pilot, was acquired by Lincoln Financial a few years ago, Savino said. After that, Savino said he felt that the environment became more “proprietary” with regard to product distribution.
Savino said he wanted to switch to a more independent broker dealer that had the ability to offer a greater variety of financial products.
He is now a partner at West Hartford-based NorthStar Wealth Partners, whose broker-dealer — LPL Financial — is the largest independent broker in the country.
NorthStar has been growing over the last two years with the addition of new offices, wealth advisors, and consultants.
“I felt like it was important to make the change,” Savino said. “You need to be on the cutting edge with regard to the technology and services you can provide to clients.”
Founded in 1988, Savino, Sturrock & Sullivan (SS&S), was headquartered at 207 Pitkin St. in East Hartford, where it provided various financial consulting and wealth management services.
Peter Sturrock and Art Sullivan, the other partners of the defunct firm, have joined a new company called Constitution Advisory Group, which provides employee benefits, retirement plans, and wealth management services.
Sullivan declined to comment on the SS&S’s break up.
Constitution Advisory Group has four partners, including Sullivan and Sturrock, and 11 other employees.
The firm has taken over the office space formerly held by SS&S on Pitkin Avenue.
Savino said all of his former clients have agreed to move their accounts over to his new firm.
Robert Laraia, a partner and founder of NorthStar Wealth Partners, said he brought Savino on board because he has built a significant senior executive and retiree client base.
“It’s a really big attraction for us,” Laraia said.
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Middletown-based Liberty Bank is planning a new branch in Plainville.
The mutual savings bank with more than $3 billion in assets has filed an application with the Connecticut Banking Department to open a new branch on East Street.
In February, the banking company opened a new branch on Farmington Avenue in Berlin.
The Plainville branch will put Liberty’s branch network near 40.
Farmington Bank recently opened a Plainville branch on New Britain Avenue and also has a branch on East Street.
Farmington Bank has also filed an application for a new Berlin branch on Farmington Avenue.
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ING’s U.S. Retirement Services operation, based in Windsor, has been chosen as the benefit services administrator for QinetiQ North America’s employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plan.
Under terms of the agreement, ING will provide QinetiQ North America, a Virginia-based international provider of technology services, with full recordkeeping services for its plan.
The services will be provided by ING’s institutional corporate market unit, which offers retirement plan administration and recordkeeping support for large corporate employers.
ING will also provide transition counseling and retirement readiness services.
In addition, QinetiQ North America has chosen to offer certain target-date funds from the ING Solution Portfolios as an investment option within the plan.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ING U.S. Retirement Services, part of Dutch insurer ING Group NV, has more than $277 billion in assets under administration and management.
Greg Bordonaro writes the Financial Sense column every other week. Reach him at gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com.
