City Am – Big four want more

City AM says The Big Four accounting firms – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC – are seeking to hire laid-off bankers to bolster the ranks of their M&A advisory arms in the City.

Top execs told City A.M. the world’s biggest professional services firms are seeking to capitalise on the downturn in big M&A deals by poaching talent from investment banks.

Global banks including Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse have cut hundreds of jobs in London since the start of 2023, in the biggest round of layoffs since the global financial crisis.

The Big Four’s M&A deals advisory units have, however, continued to boom in the slump due to a push for consolidation in the mid-market in which the top accounting firms work.

Fenton Burgin, the head of Deloitte’s M&A advisory unit, said the firm is “actively hiring”. He noted “some of our new joiners have been former investment bankers pivoting into the mid-market M&A space”.

The Deloitte exec explained that while “market volatility” has “put the brakes on mega deals” capital is continuing to flow into the mid-market as companies look to acquire “new technology and expertise through ‘bolt on’ portfolio deals”.

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