Lync Wealth Management has acquired Belfast-based Carleton Financial Planning and RJ Savage Asset Management, adding around 300 million pounds in assets under advice and taking its Northern Ireland business above 350 million pounds, a deal that matters broadly because it deepens a well-established regional presence rather than opening a new one, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because it puts Lync in direct competition with rival consolidators for the same pool of Belfast wealth practices, giving independent firms a genuine choice of buyer rather than a single dominant one.

Lync Wealth Management is a nationwide UK financial advice group owned by an affiliate of 7IM, launched in 2023 through the acquisitions of Sheffield-based Sheafmoor Money Management and Belfast-based North Financial Management, and now managing approximately 4 billion pounds in assets under advice.

Carleton Financial Planning is a Belfast practice established in 1968, providing retirement, pension, investment and tax planning advice, led by John Bamber MBE.

RJ Savage Asset Management is a Belfast-based financial advisory firm founded by adviser Ronnie Savage, who has more than 40 years of experience in financial services.

Ronnie Savage said joining a larger group would not dilute the firm's regional knowledge, arguing that local expertise doesn't get replaced when you join a bigger group, it gets amplified.

The deal confirms Belfast now has more than one well-capitalised buyer actively working the same market. Lync has said it is targeting more than 1 billion pounds in Northern Ireland client assets through acquisitions, recruitment and organic growth, putting it in direct competition with rival wealth platform Fairstone, which separately acquired Belfast-based Ferguson Hill Asset Management earlier this year.

For independent Belfast practices weighing their own future, that competition matters practically: two active acquirers bidding for a limited pool of local firms tends to support valuations and terms for owners considering a sale, rather than leaving them negotiating with a single buyer.

For the sector, the deal is a reminder that Northern Ireland's wealth management consolidation has become a genuine multi-player contest, not a single platform's uncontested build-out.

Source: Asset Servicing Times / The Intermediary / Chapters Capital