401kWire.com - May 24, 2007 - Hylant Financial Services became National Retirement Partners'' latest member firm this week. The Capistrano Beach, California-based advisor network confirmed that Hylant, a subsidiary of Hylant Group, has just signed on. An executive with Hylant confirmed that they officially joined NRP this week, and are in the process of converting their four locations to NRP's new broker-dealer, NRP Financial. Hylant Financial Services eight advisors worked with roughly $800 million in client assets as of January.

Hylant vice president of operations Jennifer Smiljanich explained that while the Toledo, Ohio headquarters of Hylant Financial Services has used Oberlin (now NRP Financial) as its broker-dealer since the Hylant unit's beginning six years ago, the other offices -- in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Ft. Wayne, Indiana; and Cleveland -- operated relatively independently until this year and used different broker-dealers. Within the next two weeks, however, Smiljanich expects the final office to transition to NRP Financial.

Smiljanich confided that more changes are on the horizon for Hylant Financial Services, including the possible addition of an individual-focused advisor to their Cleveland branch and expansion into some of parent Hylant Group's six other locations. She sees the move to NRP as an important step for the Hylant.

"NRP provides a great opportunity to develop our expertise and to gain access to some great tools," Smiljanich explained.

Bob Francis, chief operating officer of NRP, praised their new member, particularly their ability to do "total account sale", including things like property/casualty insurance, employee benefits, and of course 401(k)s.

"There's lot of talk about cross-selling, but this is the classic example of effective cross-selling," Francis told The 401kWire. "They just have top-notch people. We're elated to have them on board."

According to a release from NRP, the network now boasts 92 member firms working with over $27 billion in assets for more than 3,000 retirement plans. NRP aims to eventually expand to between 150 and 200 member firms.

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