Shane Toman, one of Davy’s most senior wealth managers, is leaving the group to join UBS’s operation in Zurich, Switzerland.
Irish Life-owned Unio Wealth Management is also losing one of its highest-ranking executives, with Richard White leaving to establish his own firm.
Toman and White’s respective exits have come amid a number of recent changes at the top level of Ireland’s wealth advisory sector, which has become increasingly competitive due to private equity-funded expansions and new entrants to the market.
As first reported by the Business Post earlier this year, Adrian Bushell, a director at wealth manager Davy, and Philip Smith, a senior director at the same firm, both decided to leave the firm in the past six months.
Unio Wealth Management, which is owned by Irish Life, has also lost investment director Paddy Swan, who has left for competitor Fordel, the wealth management firm set up Stephen Felle, who was a director with Davy for 15 years until 2020.
Fordel has expanded its new office rapidly in recent years. The firm recently forecast assets under management would grow to €350 million this year.
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Davy and Unio Wealth Management were contacted for comment. Unio did not respond before publication. A spokesman for Davy said the company cannot comment on individuals.
In the past year, Davy, which is owned by Bank of Ireland, has also made six new director appointments to its team, which has grown by close to 70 per cent in the past six years to almost 100 people.
Toman, who has worked for Davy Group for 20 years, has been a director of business since 2014. In his role as a private adviser and commercial lead in Davy’s ultra-high net worth and advisory team, he advised some of the group’s wealthiest clients.
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He has decided to leave the firm to take up a new role with UBS’s operation in Zurich, Switzerland.
White, who has been head of institutional business at Unio, plans to establish his own advisory firm following his exit from the company. He has been with the firm since 2015, when he joined from Bank of Ireland’s private banking unit.
Both Smith and Bushell decided to leave Davy to join rival Kestrel Capital, which has more than €1 billion worth of assets under management.
Last year, the company received a capital injection from private equity firm IK Partners. Kestrel has plans to significantly expand its Irish operation following investment.
In March, the company appointed Nick Tucker, an industry veteran who worked for 23 years at Merrill Lynch and previously served as head of UK domestic growth at UBS, as chairman.
