ALM names Deloitte as global leader in Defined Benefit Consulting

ALM Intelligence, the leading consulting research and advisory firm has named Deloitte member firms (Deloitte) as global leaders in Defined Benefit (DB) Consulting.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, its network of member firms, and their related entities.

ALM Intelligence research services guide senior decision makers – consulting executives as well as Fortune 500 companies — in key areas, such as Human Resources, Digital, IT, Strategy & Operations, Healthcare, Financial Advisory and more.

In their report entitled Retirement Consulting: Defined Benefit 2015, ALM Intelligence notes that Deloitte’s approach to Defined Benefit clients is largely centered upon de-risking pensions for sponsors as the threat of increasing liabilities continues to mount.

The report lays out the opportunities and challenges for Defined Benefit consulting providers focusing on market trends, client spending forecasts, and the provider landscape.

In a related development, ALM Intelligence has rated PwC as a vanguard leader in their new report ‘Transaction Advisory Services 2016.”

According to ALM: 2015 was a banner year for Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) in terms of volume and represented $4 trillion in transactions; more deals were sell side driven involving carve outs, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and divestitures; and Private Equity (PE) deals were on the rise, mostly in the form of exits.

The report highlights that “PwC has been the leader in M&A for a long time and has one of the oldest and largest transaction teams. The firm focuses on value creation and growth for clients and manages the deal process end-to-end as a single fluid and extensible continuum.”

“Deloitte assists their clients in developing investment strategies to improve portfolio outlooks in addition to recommendations for actions to be taken to reduce the burden of pension liabilities, such as lump sum buyouts,” said ALM Intelligence which provides the most in-depth analysis for the ever-changing consulting industry.

Formerly Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory, ALM Intelligence reviews defined benefit consulting through the lens of six key capabilities that are critical to DB clients: plan design, compliance, pension risk, transformation, communications strategy, and IT innovation.

According to Jason Flynn, Deloitte Global Rewards Leader, “The Deloitte network’s global footprint, multi-functional services, and combined employer and provider view enable us to serve clients on their most complex engagements, such as pension de-risking and global mergers and acquisitions.”

“Clients appreciate that we bring deep technical knowledge within the context of broader business issues and events such as governance, workforce trends and M&A strategy,” says Mark McClintock, partner at Deloitte UK.

ALM Intelligence further stated that, “Deloitte has a diversified client base for DB plans that spans multiple regions and, as such, affords the firm unique perspectives on trends within a variety of geographic markets, such as the increasing drive for portfolio diversification in the US and the impact of UK legislation on pension plans’ regulatory requirements. This puts Deloitte in a strong position to serve global plan sponsor clients seeking holistic strategies and plan designs that will accommodate geographically diverse workforces.”

 “The firm also works with insurance companies in the pension risk space, particularly in the US, offering pricing and strategy support. As buyout activities increase in frequency, this relationship will also be beneficial to Deloitte’s plan sponsor clients as they work to determine the best services to use in their buyout strategies,” it stated.

ALM Intelligence said, “As a multi-service firm, Deloitte has a strong variety of consulting services that are tailored to defined benefit clients. However, its greatest strength in this market is found in the firm’s pension risk capability through the development of investment strategies designed to stem the flow of increasing liabilities on plan sponsors. Globally operating within the defined benefit consulting market, Deloitte is responsive to clients in various regions, recognizing challenges from local legislation and economic impacts, and providing sensible solutions to those challenges.”

Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax and related services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. Deloitte serves four out of five Fortune Global 500 companies through a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries bringing world-class capabilities, insights, and high-quality service to address clients’ most complex business challenges.

It goes on to say “PwC has the strongest and most developed M&A organisation. The firm has a full end-to-end service offering, but has been shifting its focus from the integration and execution side to the origination side of the deal lifecycle recently, while also further integrating an industry lens.”

PwC’s Global Annual Review states that with intense time pressure, ever-increasing complexity and the growing competition of the best deals, the stakes are high when it comes to M&A, divestitures, restructuring and other transactions.