January 22, 2016 — The multinational professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has announced it will be entering the Blockchain environment. PwC has said they have created a new team of specialists to research the potentials of the technology due to customer demand. Steve Davies partner at EMEA FinTech leader at PwC feels his company is well positioned to explore the new protocol. Davies says:
“There is a growing interest and a real demand from our clients to help understand the implications of the Blockchain and how to respond to it. So, as the Blockchain juggernaut continues to gather pace, PwC will be well placed to service our clients needs at the global level”
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Founded in 1998 from the partnership of two existing companies Pricewaterhouse and CoopersLybrand the business offers an array of consultation, auditing, and financial advisory. It’s operations netted in a revenue of 35.4 billion in 2015 and continues to remain a finance consulting giant. Vault Accounting has named PwC the most prestigious accounting firm in the world seven years in a row. The firm handles quite a bit of public services that they believe will benefit from the use of distributed ledger technology.
PwC has signed up fifteen FinTech specialists to operate its blockchain R&D program. The company is convinced that the technology will reduce costs and add transparency to the financial landscape abroad. The protocol can assist the company’s role with auditing services, real estate, insurance and basically every multinational service they offer. PwC plans to continue its role as a top provider of these services and hopes distributed ledger technology can change the traditional finance ecosystem for the better. Steve Davies explains:
“PwC is now breaking new ground in developing radical fintech solutions and these appointments represent the first stage of our plans to grow a world-class fintech offering. We expect the initial core team of 15 experts to grow rapidly, with PwC in Belfast continuing to expand, exploit and deliver technology and digital solutions to global clients.”
PwC is one of the world’s Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, EY and KPMG. Deloitte has also shown strong interest in blockchain technology as well this past year. These two accounting mammoths know that the protocol is changing the financial horizon and getting in on the action is a smart move. Businesses all over are recognizing the blockchains potential to disrupt traditional institutions who are not paying attention. PwC U.K. Executive Board member and EMEA consulting leader Ashley Unwin see this happening already. Unwin says:
“Blockchain technology is worrying major players in the financial services industry as they don’t know where it will go or its potential to disrupt business models. However, in document delivery and settlement processing alone, it will offer significant cost reduction and efficiency gains, we are confident that these disruptive fintech technologies will trigger a huge increase in demand for blockchain expertise, and we intend to be a leader in exploiting these disruptive new technologies,”
With PwC and Deloitte leading the way with R&D teams implementing distributed ledger technology most likely smaller firms will join the movement. Clearly traditional financiers see the great potential with this type of platform and are open to its improvements. A technology that heavily reduces costs and keeps things secure and transparent is a legacy banks dream. It seems quite a bit of these large institutions are sharing the same vision.
What do you think about PwC joining the blockchain revolution? Let us know in the comments below.
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