Deloitte ties the knot with Trowbridge

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has beefed up its financial services presence in Australia and Asia, announcing a merger with Trowbridge Consulting.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has beefed up its financial services presence in Australia and Asia, announcing a merger with Trowbridge Consulting.

Trowbridge is Australia's largest independent actuarial and financial services consulting firm, with more than 100 actuaries in offices in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Under the terms of the deal, 20 principals at Trowbridge will become partners of Deloitte and a new service line will be created to house the Trowbridge business. The Trowbridge brand will remain intact and all 140 Trowbridge staff will transfer to Deloitte. Trowbridge’s association with Woodrow Milliman network will also be severed on completion of the deal on June 30.

Deloitte chief executive Lynn Odland says the merger is a major shot in the arm for Deloitte’s ambitions in the financial services industry.

"We really were seeking some strength in the financial services industry. Trowbridge's brand name and reputation is terrific so bringing in an industry leader was very appealing to us," he says.

Trowbridge founder and chairman John Trowbridge says the group began a strategic review of the business about a year ago. At the end of the review, the group was convinced it needed to form a strategic relationship with an industry player to maintain its leadership position well into the future.

"We have had market leadership in our fields for some time but it is getting increasingly difficult in today's competitive environment to maintain that leadership and maintain that independence," Trowbridge said.

The group was approached by a number of the so-called “big five” professional services and consulting firms with a view to joining their partnerships. Trowbridge settled on Deloitte after confirming the two groups had a good fit in terms of culture and strategy.

“We didn’t want to be absorbed into a department within a big five firm and we wanted to make sure we were culturally compatible before signing up with Deloitte,” he says.

“We were surprised that there was a big five firm that was even close to a good fit. However, we did an exhaustive cultural assessment of all our suitors and Deloitte came out on top.”

Trowbridge's clients in the past five years have included every major Australian bank, life insur-ance and general insurance company.

New York-based Deloitte global managing partner for actuarial services Ainar Aijala says Trow-bridge's reputation is known worldwide and would enhance Deloitte's ability to attract new staff, especially in the UK.

"Worldwide our plan is to grow significantly. This will give us a beachhead in Australia and in Asia and the Trowbridge organisation will now be the place where we will be able to fuel that growth," Aijala said.