PWC

Accountancy firm PwC’s latest global asset management survey predicts a Darwinian industry shake-up, forecasting that one in six asset management firms worldwide will disappear by 2027 amid looming consolidation and technological disruption. “The choice is simple – adapt to the new context or fail.”

Market consolidation, pressure on cost and the weight of regulation have reduced the total number of Management Companies in Luxembourg by four last year. The latest edition of PwC’s annual Manco Observatory nevertheless sees this industry as “very dynamic”, with 11 new Manco’s having been set up in the last year.

Consulting and accounting firm PwC Luxembourg has announced its new “country leadership team” after a vote by the firm’s partners on 10 February 2023.

PwC Luxembourg has named Baptiste Guionnet as partner. Guionnet will support CEOs, CFOs and other C-level executives on all financial, performance and transformation matters of the finance function.

Until recently he served as partner at Deloitte Luxembourg where he worked for more than six years in the CFO advisory practice. Before joining Deloitte, he worked at Societe Generale and Natixis.

Chief executives of Luxembourg firms are more worried about the long-term prospects for their businesses than their counterparts in other countries, according to a new survey presented on Wednesday by consultancy firm PwC.

The survey showed that only 51 percent of Luxembourg CEOs believe that their company will be economically viable for more than ten years if it continues running on the current path, compared to 59 percent of global CEOs.

Boards of AIFMs, Alternative Investment Fund Managers, in Luxembourg are “heavily concerned” over potential greenwashing, a survey conducted by PWC Luxembourg on behalf of the Luxembourg corporate governance institute ILA said. 

To some spectators, many ESG funds engage in greenwashing, making little serious attempt to boost sustainability. To others, this movement is part of a woke agenda that unfairly bashes the energy industry. Yet, “not yet proven” is the conclusion of a new Luxembourg report about the effect of ESG investing on the global economy, and thus ultimately the environment and society. 

Francois Mousel has been elected as managing partner at PwC Luxembourg to succeed John Parkhouse from next July, the firm announced on Monday.

Parkhouse’s second four-year mandate will come to an end next year. During his tenure, the firm’s turnover rose to 543 million euro in the fiscal year ended 30 June 2022, from 315 million euro in 2014. During that period, PwC Luxembourg added approximately 600 staff, employing 3100 people at the end of last June. PwC is the largest among the big four auditors and consultants in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg‘s financial supervisor on Monday said it has slapped a fine of 10,000 euro on a Luxembourg subsidiary of Russian state-owned gas producer Gazprom because it was late in filing its annual report for last year.

Gaz Capital SA is fully controlled by Gazprom and held more than 13 billion euro in total assets at the end of 2021, trade data from Luxembourg shows. The firm posted its annual accounts to Luxembourg’s business register on 27 July, well beyond the deadline of three months within the close of the year.

Despite challenging market conditions, PwC Luxembourg, the biggest professional services firm in the grand duchy, on Tuesday reported an 11 percent increase in net revenues for its latest fiscal year, pushing its turnover “comfortably’ past the half-billion euro mark. 

For Luxembourg, the consultancy firm reported a turnover of 543.3 million euro for its fiscal year ended 30 June, buoyed by 13.9 percent growth in advisory services, in particular for alternative investments. Assurance sales rose 10.6 percent and tax by 9 percent.