Banking, Insurance and Capital Markets

We focus on the future of financial markets and services and provide consulting in the area of risks, regulatory issues, cyber security, new technologies, evolving structures and needs of customers, and increasing opportunities in the FinTech industry. Areas such as digitalisation, Big Data or Customer Care belong among our everyday tasks involving the cooperation with banking and insurance professionals who are also our long-term clients.

How PwC can help

Digital transformation

We help companies to find their bearings in the digital world, to understand their clients’ new expectations, and to create a strategy for their successful development and transformation of their business into the digital environment. This is all done interactively, using rapid prototyping, so that we can verify the actual business potential right away.

Entering capital markets

We provide comprehensive consulting services for entering capital markets and, along with our clients, we realise important changes in their companies which allow them to become more efficient and interesting for investors. Going public is a crucial step for every company, which should only be done under the support of experienced professionals.

ESG agenda

The pressure on sustainable entrepreneurship is increased by investors as well as by end customers and regulators. Therefore, companies need to take appropriate steps in their environmental and social sustainability (ESG). We will help you set up your ESG strategy, non-financial reporting, carbon neutrality programmes as well as other areas.

Auditing services

We will carry out an audit or review of your company according to the Auditing Standards of the Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic, International Standards on Auditing or other regulatory issues selected by you (e.g. foreign guidelines). Within the standard auditing package, we use 100% digital auditing technologies available and provide an independent report on the possibilities of improving the operational and control efficiency of your company.onals.

Post-merger integration projects

We have broad experience in the sales or mergers of large multinational companies from the perspective of business as well as system integration. We will be happy to prepare client migration for you, to propose internal processes, and to adapt both organisations to the change. We will ensure project management, preparation of data and system migration, proposal of the target application architecture and the communication with all the participants.

Banking is going through some turbulent times which must respond flexibly to market transformation, regulatory issues, customer behaviour, new trends such as blockchain or promising startups in the FinTech industry. We help our clients to understand the variable environment where they are doing their business. We will create and, subsequently, realise a strategy, thanks to which they will be able to provide an attractive portfolio of services while maintaining their customers’ trust and adhering to all the regulatory issues.

Petr Ložek

Leader PwC, Banking, Insurance and Capital Markets

Strategic Consulting

The current strategy of banks and financial institutions is focused on maximum customer responsiveness and the comprehensibility of provided services. The crucial area is the development of the online environment, which has become a part of our everyday life. At the same time, it applies that an online solution is not suitable for everyone; classic business networks still play a vital role.

We will be happy to help you in setting your customer relations management systems and in protecting and increasing customer satisfaction. Based on the analysis of your distribution model and product portfolio, we will propose its optimisation focused on sustaining long-term profitability and growth. Our professionals in the area of customer experience will map out your customer journeys and identify the crucial moments where you gain but also lose your customers.
We will help you analyse.

Our services:

  • Company/market strategy

  • Client strategy for individual segments

  • Creation and distribution of products/product management

  • Distribution model update
    Distribution network management including definition of commission models

  • Improvement of customer (front-office) processes

  • Optimisation of back-office processes

  • Digital banking and e-solutions

 

Operations

Provision of comprehensive customer solutions is currently shown especially by the requirement to provide fast response by banks and financial institutions towards their customers, yet the pressure on simplifying the individual client interactions is also growing – a simple process of negotiation of products, simplification of contract wording, comprehensible terms and conditions, easy product administration, etc.

These trends are associated with investment in technologies which take the banking technologies to a higher level, including mobile platforms.

Along with the development activities, streamlining processes in financial institutions put pressure on the efficiency and performance of the current systems, service models and distribution. Finding a well-balanced mix of the benefit-cost ratio to ensure further sustainable development is becoming increasingly difficult.

What we provide to our clients:

  • Optimisation of the process of branch performance and their comparison with competition

  • Assessment of function and performance of all client contact points

  • Cost optimisation

  • Process efficiency increase

  • Lean and Six Sigma

Front-Office Transformation

We help companies to find their bearings in the digital world, to understand their clients’ new expectations, and we define ways for their successful development and transformation of their business into the digital environment. This is all done interactively, using rapid prototyping, so that we can verify the actual business potential right away. A “mock-up" prototype is supplied within two weeks; a functional one within eight weeks.

What we provide to our clients:

  • Digital transformation from strategy to realisation

  • Customer experience management, Person and User Journeys creation

  • Rapid prototyping

  • Creation of new business models and opportunities

  • Multi and omni-channel transformation

  • Verification and assessment of digital skills and comparison with competitors on the CEE market, benchmarking of mobile applications

Finance

In the current unstable market environment, banks often find it difficult to adjust their annual budgets so that they correspond to the current outlook. More flexibility can be achieved by the implementation of the adaptive planning and budgeting supported by adequate measurement of performance and motivation of both management and employees. From the perspective of profitability and liquidity, it is essential to understand the cost allocation and stricter regulatory rules.

Our services:

  • Selection and implementation of appropriate pricing policy

  • Setting up or optimisation of cost management systems including the ABC method

  • Consulting associated with the assessment of credit portfolio quality

  • Optimisation of risk management system

  • Corporate Performance Management (including the formulation of vision and strategy, process of planning and budgeting, reporting associated with investment management, employee motivation)

  • Business Intelligence, financial and business reporting

Regulations

Financial regulation has become an extensive complex of different measures reflecting the current post-crisis environment in the G20 states. Comprehensive international regulatory agenda and implementation of local standards limits should decrease the likelihood of further market failure. However, regulations in individual countries often differ or are even contradictory and the time frames for their implementation are not united. Market participants thus face major problems in keeping up with the developing regulatory framework where no appropriate capacities for its analysis and subsequent implementation are available. Our team of specialists is ready to work with you and participate in the setting of an adequate risk management system which enables to manage the exposure to individual risks in line with the bank's overall strategy.

Our services:

  • Preparation for regulation within the European Banking Union (Asset Quality Review, Single Supervisory Mechanism diagnostic, Banking Recovery and Resolution, Risk Model Review, AnaCredit, etc.)

  • Implementation of MiFID II/MiFIR and associated regulations (PRIIPs, MAD2, MAR)

  • Automated exchange of account information (Common Reporting Standard, FATCA)

  • Governance and operating models for risk management and compliance

  • Regulatory monitoring

  • Collection process efficiency increase

  • Risk reporting

  • Management of strategic, credit, market and operating risks

  • Banking identity – bankID

Risk Management

The Financial Risk Management team provides advisory services to banks and financial institutions on the qualitative aspects of risk management.  Our agenda is focused on financial risks (market risk, credit risk) as well as non-financial risk (operational risks) which ultimately impact the capital and liquidity situation of a bank.  We provide our services in the CEE and selected Eurasia countries in close cooperation with local PwC offices.

Generally, our projects involve benchmarking to “leading market practice” for the given area, using our know-how from the bank environment as well as associated regulations (including the latest regulatory trends, e.g. the ESG). We identify improvement opportunities of current risk management processes and design appropriate solutions. Our typical client is a Risk Management team, but we also provide support to Treasury or Internal Audit teams.

Furthermore, our team focuses on credit risk control processes within the Asset Quality Review (under ECB). Being the Centre of Excellence for AQR within PwC EMEA, we have successfully realised projects in the CEE region, the euro area, but also in Mongolia or Kazakhstan.

The topics we cover include:

  • ECB Asset Quality Review including AQR preparation projects

  • Data integrity validation

  • Capital management

  • Liquidity management

  • Market risk management
    Credit risk management 

  • Operational risk management

  • Risk management culture including Risk Governance (Risk Appetite Framework)

  • Governance setting for data aggregation and reporting (in risk management processes)  

  • Resolution and Recovery Planning

The Financial Risk Modelling team helps financial institutions to efficiently find their bearings in the area of quantitative risk management. We aim to provide our clients with high-quality services and solutions through our qualified professionals. Our consultants are experienced in the area of development, validation or audit of a wide range of market and credit risk models.

Our extraordinary technical equipment allows us to expand the scope of our provided services beyond the framework of development and validation of common models even to the area of big data analysis, AI models or development of tailor-made quantitative software. The tools we commonly use include SAS, Python, R, SQL, and others.

Our services:

  • Statistical model development

  • Model validation

  • Stress testing

  • ESG modelling

In the following areas:

  • Credit quality scoring, risk-based pricing, loan provision strategy

  • NPL and collection process

  • Allowances according to IFRS 9 / US GAAP

  • IRB-A / IRB-F models according to CRR

  • CCAR/DFAST models

  • Valuation of complex derivatives

Risk Management & Modelling

 

Cyber Security

We will help you to solve any issues in the area of cyber security regardless of their scope. We can elaborate an end-to-end project, provide you with long-term “Security as a Service” or guide you through the complete transformation of your organisation’s cyber security.

  • Information Security Management

  • Cyber Resilience

  • Threat Management

  • More on Cyber & Privacy

ESG

  • Comprehensive sustainability business strategy

  • Responsible investment and finance

  • Non-financial reporting a SDGs

  • Decarbonisation

  • Associated tax and legal regulations

  • Solution of unequal salaries

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Contacts

Petr  Ložek

Petr Ložek

Lead Partner, Consulting, PwC Czech Republic

Tel: +420 724 258 609