Investment Banking

As global investment banking businesses need to think and act across borders as well as nationally, KPMG coordinates our member firms’ services through the three global operating regions of EMA (Europe, Middle East & Africa), Asia Pacific and the Americas.

This approach provides our member firm clients with a well established service in their markets. It gives them access to professional assistance which is characterized by commitment to national markets, and an understanding of the commercial and cultural differences between countries.

Our multinational investment banking teams are led by senior partners who have a wealth of global client experience and relationships with many of the major market players, regulators and leading industry bodies. We listen to our firms’ clients and understand. The result is a focus on the issues that really matter:

• Growth — the investment banks have recently enjoyed an almost unprecedented period of strong economic conditions and growth, which has enabled them to deliver record earnings. The industry has largely stabilized in recent years around a small number of major players, and there have been few recent mergers and acquisitions. One of the main competitive threats in the industry comes from new entrants, as hedge funds and private equity (PE) houses take an increasingly high profile role in the global capital markets.
• Performance — the focus in the investment banking industry has always been on top-line growth, rather than cost control and efficiency. Focus on people and cost management in the current, very positive, phase of the cycle suggests that investment banks are learning to manage through good times and bad.
• Governance — good quality governance, internal controls, and reporting are critical in an industry that thrives on risk. Although there continues to be examples of catastrophic breakdowns in controls, leading to major trading losses, these tend to show up more in the hedge funds, as new entrants to the market. Many of the more experienced players have implemented policies and initiatives that protect against these losses. The regulator continues to demand high standards of governance and control – regulations such as Basel II and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) due to come into effect on November 1, 2007 in Europe, require sophisticated external reporting and high levels of transparency.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss how KPMG member firms can help you achieve your business objectives.

To discuss how we can work together, please contact us.