Provisional Liquidators have been appointed to Strand Investments & Finance Limited (Strand) at the High Court today to protect clients of the firm.
The court appointed Aiden Murphy and Declan Hanly of Crowe Ireland as Joint Provisional Liquidators following an application by the Central Bank.
Strand has its registered office and was operating from 15 Castlemaine Street, Athlone in Co Westmeath.
It is authorised as an investment business firm/investment intermediary under the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995 and registered as an insurance intermediary under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018.
The Central Bank has been engaging with Strand and its representatives in relation to its business and to secure the interests of its clients after it became aware of the death of the one of the firm's Directors, Bernard Kinahan, in September 2025.
The bank said it became aware of a number of unusual aspects of the case that are of concern including an absence of ongoing governance or management of the daily activities of the Firm since the passing of Mr Kinahan; and a number of apparently irregular transactions or activities undertaken in relation to some customer accounts that require further assessment and review.
The Central Bank imposed a Direction on Strand to suspend the provision of all regulated financial services on 10 December.
It said it took custody of the books and records of the firm and froze its accounts.
Following this intervention and given the unusual circumstances with regard to the Firm, the Central Bank has now moved to appoint Joint Provisional Liquidators in order to protect the clients of the firm.
In a statement today, the Central Bank said all affected customers of the regulated entity will be contacted by the Joint Provisional Liquidators as soon as possible to advise them of next steps.
"The Joint Provisional Liquidators will now undertake a full assessment of Strand to establish the current position of clients’ investments. In many cases our expectation is that clients’ investments with their product provider will be intact and secure," the Central Bank added.
