Banking

Banking leaders are being challenged on the culture at their organisations and their ability to generate sustainable returns for their investors.

How can PwC help you 

PwC Cyprus has a dedicated team of banking experts that comprises 10 Partners and Directors and more than 100 client facing professionals committed in delivering quality in assurance, tax, regulatory advice and other consultancy services including governance, risk and compliance, process improvement, financial reporting and business development. The PwC Cyprus professionals operate within a tightly-knitted international network of industry experts ready to deliver local knowledge with global expertise to help turn challenges into opportunities in all key areas of your business.

Financial statement audit

While many of the rules of business have changed, the fundamentals haven’t. Meeting investor expectations begins with the completeness, accuracy and fair presentation of information in your financial statements and disclosures. The financial statement audit is key to sustaining confidence in both your company and the financial system at large and must keep pace with a fast-evolving corporate reporting environment.

Risk and regulation

Following the financial crisis, banks are facing huge challenges in staying ahead of the complex and ever changing financial regulatory landscape, whilst at the same time recalibrating business models and building customer trust. PwC’s Risk, Compliance & Regulation team includes a dedicated group of banking experts who scan the regulatory horizon and actively engage in dialogue with regulators and industry bodies, bringing you insights and keeping you up to date on the emerging risks, regulatory changes, technical issues and hot topics impacting your business. Our banking experts operate within a tightly-knit international network of industry experts ready to deliver local knowledge with global expertise to help turn regulatory challenges and emerging threats into opportunities in all key areas of your business.

Compliance / Internal audit

Banks are impacted by continually evolving local and global Compliance requirements. Compliance officers have a huge task in their hands to follow complex new regulations, manage risks and support management in making strategic decisions.

Today more than ever, Boards are facing ongoing pressure from stakeholders and regulators to mitigate risk yet drive business performance. Internal Audit plays a critical role in providing objective assurance that protects the business against risk and informs strategic decision making.

Strategy & Operational restructuring

Faced with the new economic reality in Cyprus, banks will need to re- focus on their core businesses and reconsider their strategy and expansion plans. How can your organisation take advantage of opportunities for restructuring and growth?

Tax / VAT

The increasing Tax burden is one of the most important concerns of CEOs, driving the adoption of proper internal controls and robust financial reporting processes to satisfy tax authorities, regulators and other stakeholders. At the same time, tax authorities worldwide are concerned with ensuring both increased compliance amongst taxpayers, and that their fiscal policies are not overtaken by global business and economic developments.

In a global environment characterised by the increasing popularity of VAT and other indirect taxes - and complicated by new regulations and capital requirements - it is more critical than ever to manage your indirect taxes with an eye towards minimising VAT costs, optimising cash flow and reducing risk.

Investments & Divestments

Banks are still facing significant challenges as a result of the restructuring of the sector and the macro-economic conditions. Given the lack of a system-wide solution, banks need to assess their strategic options in dealing with the high and rising NPL levels as well as maximising their return from non-core assets. For others, the current conditions may present opportunities for further investment and growth in order to improve shareholders’ returns.

Capital management

With banks’ capital needs constantly growing given the increased volatility of financial markets and in the wake of new regulations setting stricter capital definitions, banks are required to hold larger amounts of capital to sustain credit availability, absorb losses and demonstrate their financial strength. Regulatory capital remains the dominant capital metric with RWAs being central to the calculation of a bank’s capital ratio. The scarcity of fresh capital drives banks to explore better capital management through tactical actions and strategic decisions.

Digital transformation, technology consulting, cyber security and privacy

Technology has fostered new expectations for how customers should interact with their financial institutions. Mobility, granular insight, self-service, mass customisation and personalised interaction are now basic requirements in our always connected, on-demand world. At the same time, consumption-based models for application platforms and infrastructure require different delivery and support models, putting traditional legacy players at a significant disadvantage when compared with ‘digital native’ newcomers. The financial services market is also changing at extraordinary speed. Digital technology is driving the emergence of new business models. These could make a lot of traditional financial services organisations redundant.

Financial institutions need to be designing right now for a future that is going to look very different. A number of decision makers at leading financial services companies believe that their businesses are at risk of disappearing in the next few years due to changes in business models. The process of redefining business scope and practice now has a life of its own. Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and smart algorithms enable faster decision making in ways that bypass traditional institutions. Peer-based markets enable transactions between individuals safeguarded by rules that ensure compliance, enabled by robotics and fostered by the certainty of much lower costs. Furthermore, Cyber-attacks against Banking Systems are becoming more frequent, more sophisticated and more wide-spread. Critical digital assets are being targeted at an unprecedented rate and the potential impact to banking businesses has never been greater. Given the vital role of IT Systems in promoting stability, the SSM has placed Cyber security in it’s five highest priorities; it is imperative for banks to assess their level of readiness to effectively deal with any possible worst case scenarios.

Contact us

Michalis Stephanou

Partner, Advisory Leader, Head of Deals, In charge of Financial Services and Banking, PwC Cyprus

Tel: +357-22555770

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