Gavin Kelly is new Davy chief

As well as leading the division, Mr Kelly will take on the position of chief executive of Davy. He will also join the Davy board and have oversight of New Ireland Assurance.

Davy, which offers investment and wealth advisory services, had assets under management of €25.9bn at the end of March this year. The wealth-management firm employs more than 900 people across five locations in Ireland and the UK.

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Bank of Ireland purchased Davy in 2021 in a deal valued at €427m. Davy opted to put itself up for sale in March 2021 after it was fined €4.13m by the Central Bank for breaching market rules, the biggest ever fine levied on a broker in Ireland.

New Ireland Assurance offers life assurance, pensions and investment solutions to individual and corporate customers. It had assets under management of €23.6bn at the end of March.

Both Davy and New Ireland serve a combined total of 650,000 customers across Ireland.

Mr Kelly first joined Bank of Ireland in 2007 and has held a number of senior management positions, including interim group chief executive and Retail Ireland chief executive. He is set to remain on the group executive committee of the bank.

His appointment is being seen as part of a move by Bank of Ireland to exert tighter control over Davy, which has previously had a considerable degree of independence.

“Davy’s wealth and capital markets capability is an extremely important part of the Bank of Ireland group, offering excellent services that command very high levels of client trust and satisfaction, and New Ireland is absolutely core to our business,” Bank of Ireland chief executive Myles O’Grady said.

“Gavin brings significant experience which will support Davy as we seek to deepen the value we offer corporate and private clients of the firm,” added Davy chair Vincent Crowley.

Davy’s current chief executive Bernard Byrne announced late last year that he planned to step down at some stage in 2024.

He joined Davy in 2019 and became chief executive in March 2021, overseeing the sale to Bank of Ireland.