Information Release on Strand Investment & Finance Limited 

On 22nd January 2026, the High Court appointed Mr Aiden Murphy and Mr Declan Hanly of Crowe Ireland as Joint Provisional Liquidators to Strand on foot of an application by the Central Bank of Ireland (Central Bank). The Central Bank took this action to protect the interests of Strand’s clients.  Read the full statement here.

In September 2025 the Central Bank were made aware of the death of the one of the Strand’s Directors Mr Bernard Kinahan. Since then, the Central Bank has engaging with Strand and its representatives in relation to its business and to secure the interests of its clients. As part of this engagement the Central Bank became aware of a number of concerning matters, to include:

 

• An absence of ongoing governance or management of the daily activities of the Firm since the passing of Mr Bernard Kinahan; and
• A number of apparently irregular transactions or activities undertaken in relation to some customer accounts that require further assessment and review.

 

While it appears that Strand had effectively ceased trading since September 2025, following this engagement, on 10th December 2025, the Central Bank imposed a direction on the firm to suspend the provision of all regulated financial services in order to protect its clients. We took custody of the books and records of the firm and froze its accounts.

 

The Central Bank has now taken the decision to petition the High Court to appoint a Provisional Liquidator and wind-up Strand to ensure the protection of clients’ interests.

The Central Bank considered it prudent and necessary to petition the High Court for the appointment of a Provisional Liquidator on an ex-parte basis.  The role of a Provisional Liquidator is to manage the affairs of the company, secure its assets and deal with queries from investors and all creditors of the firm. 

 

A full High Court hearing to consider the appointment of Official Liquidator has been scheduled for 9^th February 2026.

The Provisional Liquidator will immediately work to establish the current position of all client investments. The Provisional Liquidator is aware of the urgency of completing this exercise as soon as possible.

 

It should be noted that a return High Court date of 9^th February 2026 has been granted and, should the appointment be confirmed on that date, the Provisional Liquidator would expect to become the Official Liquidator. The Liquidator will then continue their work to establish the position of all client investments.

Strand 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 (full details are set out on the Central Bank’s register of regulated entities). An investment or insurance intermediary is not permitted to accept cash from a client for investment purposes and all payments are required to be made directly to the product provider (e.g. investment firm[1], insurance company etc). Strand is not authorised to hold Client Assets.

The Joint Provisional Liquidators will contact all Strand clients as soon as possible in relation to their investments to advise them of the liquidation process, the timelines involved, and to address any questions.  The Joint Provisional Liquidators will make a full assessment of the current position of the firm and advise clients of the outcome.

 

Clients of Strand should also contact the product provider with which their investment is held. If following this engagement with the product provider, a client has any questions in relation to their investment they should contact the Joint Provisional Liquidators.

The priority of the Joint Provisional Liquidators, and, if appointed on the return date, the Official Liquidators, will be to undertake a thorough reconciliation of all clients’ investments in the coming months.

 

The position in relation to investments will be determined by the Joint Provisional Liquidators and Official Liquidator, if appointed, following this thorough assessment.

 

The Joint Provisional Liquidators will contact all Strand’s clients over the coming days in relation to their investments to advise them of the liquidation process, the timelines involved, and to address any specific questions. The Joint Provisional Liquidators will make a full assessment of the current position of the firm and advise clients of the outcome. For further information, please contact [email protected] or call 01 4482339.

The position in relation to all client investments will be determined following a thorough assessment by the Joint Provisional Liquidators, and, if appointed, the Official Liquidators. The Central Bank are aware of certain irregularities that have occurred and these will be a focus of the investigation for the Joint Provisional Liquidators.  

In many cases our expectation is that clients’ investments with their product provider will be intact and secure.

The Joint Provisional Liquidators will contact all Strand’s clients in relation to their investments as soon as possible, and advise them of the process, the timelines involved and address any specific questions. The Provisional Liquidator, and, if appointed, Official Liquidator, will make a full assessment of the current position of the firm and advise clients of the outcome.

Clients of Strand should also contact the product provider with which their investment is held. If following this engagement with the product provider, a client has any questions in relation to their investment they should contact the Joint Provisional Liquidators.

Strand has c.700 clients who are all based in Ireland.

As an investment intermediary, Strand is a member of Fund B of the Investor Compensation Scheme (ICS).  The ICS is operated by the Investor Compensation Company DAC (ICCL). This is a separate legal entity from the Central Bank. The ICS has not been activated by the appointment of the Provisional Liquidator. The ICS may be activated if an Official Liquidator is appointed by the High Court, but this will depend on the outcome of the work of the Provisional Liquidator.

At this time and pending the outcome of the full High Court hearing, the ICCL does not have an active role in the matter. It is therefore unable to respond to client specific queries. 

Information for private investors on how to claim compensation when an investment firm fails is available on the ICCL’s website[1].

No. Strand is not an authorised Credit Institution and is therefore not covered by the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

Section 22(1) of the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995 – "Winding-up on application to Court" – provides as follows;

"(1) Notwithstanding section 215 of the Companies Act, 1963, a supervisory authority may, by presenting a petition, apply to the Court to have an authorised investment business firm or  former authorised investment business firm wound up on any of the following grounds, namely that -

(a) an authorised investment business firm or former authorised investment business firm is or, in the opinion of the supervisory authority, may be unable to meet its obligations to its clients or creditors,

(b) the authorisation of the investment business firm has been revoked and the former authorised investment business firm has ceased to operate as an investment business firm,

(c) the supervisory authority considers that it is in the interest of the proper and orderly regulation and supervision of investment business firms or is necessary for the protection of investors that the authorised investment business firm or  former authorised investment business firm be wound up,

(d) an authorised investment business firm or a former authorised investment business firm has failed to comply with any direction given by the supervisory authority under this Act.