Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, has started his own investment firm to provide advice to funds and individuals, a move likely to stir controversy about his business connections since stepping down from power three years ago, according to The Sunday Times (of London).

The firm, called Firerush Ventures No 3, is registered with the Financial Services Authority, the UK financial regulator, and does business as Tony Blair Associates, the publication said.

The company hired Mark Labovitch, who formerly worked at Dresdner Kleinwort, LongAcre Partners and Mesa Global, to be chief operating officer, the newspaper said. It also hired Varun Chandra, who worked in mergers and acquisitions at Lehman Brothers Holdings.

The move is bound to anger members of the Labour Party – which he led from 1994 to 2007 – which traditionally has had an uncomfortable relationship with the wealth management and banking industry. The story will add to perceptions that Blair has used his political career as a springboard for a highly lucrative business life.

However, Blair’s office has described as “fatuous” claims that he is starting a bank for the super-rich.

A report by the Financial Times said Blair launched Tony Blair Associates after leaving office in 2007, promising “strategic advice on both a commercial and pro-bono basis, on political and economic trends and government reforms”.

However, his aides say this geopolitical advice might be used by “major institutions or investors in their own right”, potentially bringing Blair’s operations within the remit of the FSA.