Archway snaps up Bay Insurance & Financial in local merger deal

Bay Insurance & Financial, a smaller brokerage in Tantallon, Nova Scotia, has merged with one of Atlantic Canada’s largest brokerages, Archway Insurance.

Bay Insurance’s existing location on Peggy’s Cove Road in the heart of the St. Margaret’s Bay Area will remain open. All employees, including Bay Insurance & Financial president Ron Bagnell and long-time employee Jennifer Jollimore, will be joining the Archway team.

Bagnell will take on a commercial consulting role with Archway and plans to retain his life and health benefits business. “As I look toward retirement and spending less time at the office, Archway Insurance provides the right transition for our clients and employees,” Bagnell said in a release Thursday. “I trust they are in good hands and will continue to receive the same professional insurance advice and service they have come to expect over the years.”

Bay Insurance & Financial has served local clients for more than a dozen years. The once rural area continues to grow in popularity as a place to both live and do business.

“I’ve watched the community continue to grow in popularity and thrive over the years,” Archway Insurance president Gina McFetridge says. “We are thrilled to be able to service new and existing clients through the addition of the Bay Insurance location.”

Archway has a total of 23 locations covering all of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Over the past decade, Archway has purchased many brokerages across the two provinces and will “continue to focus on growth through new business sales and brokerage purchases,” Archway said in a release.

Archway is an Atlantic-owned, independent insurance brokerage – one of the largest is the region. It is headquartered in Amherst, N.S. and has more than 150 employees, offering personal, business, group and life insurance.

For its part, independent brokerage Bay Insurance & Financial offers auto, home, marine, business, life, health, travel and disability insurance, as well as financial planning.