Irish Life owner Great-West is combining its Irish brands under a single wealth management umbrella to challenge the dominance of Davy and Goodbody.

The new firm, Unio, brings together Invesco, Acumen and APT under one brand with €14bn under management - a scale that puts it immediately on a level with the big two wealth managers.

The development will be especially concerning for AIB, as its joint venture partner Irish Life will now be directly competing with Goodbody, its stockbroking and wealth management arm.

Unio employs a total of 250 people in its Dublin headquarters, as well as in its offices in Cork and Limerick.

The firm said 130 of staff are focused on personal clients.

The business now plans to grow assets under management to €20bn by 2027, engaging with entrepreneurs, business owners, SMEs, professional services, as well as multinational and indigenous companies.

The company will be led by Des McGarry, the former managing director and founder of Invesco.

Unio head of private clients Miceál Gunning, who also held the same position at Invesco, said the firm would look to “demystify wealth and investment”.

“Given the evolution of wealth in Ireland over the past number of decades, and that Ireland only started to materially grow in the late 1990s, there is an historic, generational transfer of wealth underway,” he said.

“This is not about luring clients away from other wealth management firms,” Mr Gunning said.

"The fact is, there are so few people taking financial advice in Ireland. It is the nature of the market currently, which presents an opportunity for a new advisory-led player like Unio.”