Fairstone Ireland has appointed Ian Brady, former chief executive of wealth manager Unio, as its new CEO, subject to regulatory approval. Founder Paul Merriman moves from CEO to a new role as president of the company.

Fairstone Ireland is a financial planning and wealth management firm managing over 4 billion euros in assets for more than 70,000 clients, employing around 240 people and owning the askpaul.ie financial advice business. It has acquired 20 independently owned wealth management and financial planning firms in Ireland over the past four years.

Ian Brady brings more than 25 years of experience in Irish wealth management. He spent 21 years at Davy, latterly as managing director, before joining Unio as managing director of wealth management and then serving as its chief executive for two years until his departure in February.

The appointment sits within a broader consolidation wave reshaping Irish wealth management and financial planning, a sector adjacent to accountancy that competes for the same high-net-worth and business-owner clients.

Fairstone has built its Irish presence through a serial acquisition strategy, its Downstream Buy-Out model, absorbing 20 independent practices since entering the market, while rival consolidator Unio was itself created when Irish Life spun out Invesco, Acumen & Trust and APT into a single 14 billion euro business explicitly positioned to challenge Davy and Goodbody.

Brady's move from that rival consolidator to Fairstone brings direct knowledge of a competing roll-up strategy into the country's most acquisitive wealth management platform, at a point when Fairstone has stated an ambition to double in size by 2030 across the UK and Ireland.

For independent financial planning and accountancy-adjacent advisory firms in Ireland, the appointment reinforces that scale, succession planning and platform backing are becoming decisive competitive factors, mirroring the consolidation pressure already visible in the accountancy sector itself.

For Fairstone, installing a CEO with direct knowledge of a rival's client base and operating model ahead of its 2030 growth target signals continuity of strategy rather than a change of direction under new leadership.

Source: RTE / The Irish Times / Business Post / Money Marketing