Welcome to KPMG Financial Services. Financial Services continues to be KPMG's largest line of business. It is comprised of four industry sectors, six segments, and 24 sub-segments. We are the leading professional services provider to the world's largest banks and other global financial organizations. Like our clients, the Financial Services line of business is organized and managed on a global basis, helping to ensure cohesion, consistency, and the ability to deliver professional services of the highest quality globally, regionally, and nationally.
KPMG serves more financial companies than any other major professional services firm. Among our clients are many of the leading U.S. and global financial institutions.
The Right Relationships
We realize that building the right service provider relationship with clients goes far beyond having the relevant knowledge and technical capabilities to serve their specific business needs. The right relationship demands that we understand the many different parts of their organization and have an appreciation of the larger context in which they operate.
KPMG's deep knowledge of the financial services industry and our close relationship with many of the world's largest financial institutions enables us to provide keen insight into the economic and market conditions affecting our clients. Applying our industry experience, we can quickly identify and respond to key business and performance issues as they arise and provide a comprehensive scope of services to help address those issues.
Banking & Finance
Within our Financial Services line of business, Banking and Finance is KPMG's largest industry sector. It is comprised of two segments and 10 sub-segments. Leveraging our experience, people, and relationships, we dominate the marketplace, providing services to commercial banks, international banks, brokerage firms, private banking companies, and credit unions.
Our strength in the marketplace is one of the reasons KPMG audits 60 percent of the 2007 Fortune 100 ranked Commercial Banks* and 43 percent of the Global 500 ranked banks located in the U.S.** KPMG provides services to 16 of 17 companies in the Securities industry ranked on the 2007 Fortune 1000 list.***
Our deep industry knowledge coupled with the close working relationships we have with industry leaders enable our professionals to provide keen insight and perspective into the economic and market conditions affecting our clients. Our industry experience allows us to quickly identify and respond to key business and performance issues as they arise and provide our clients with a comprehensive scope of services to help address those issues -- now and in the future.
Asset Management
Integral to the success of our Financial Services line of business is our Asset Management (AM) sector percent. AM provides audit, tax, and advisory services to mutual funds, unit investment trusts, common and collective trust funds, variable insurance products, investment partnerships, offshore fund products, and investment managers, advisers, and distributors.
Within the U.S., our practice is comprised of professionals with a wide array of backgrounds, including experience with various regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Attorney's Office, the U.S. Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, as well as industry regulatory organizations such as the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Their regulatory experience helps our teams better respond to technical financial accounting, tax accounting, and oversight issues our clients may encounter.
Our client experience covers all fund structures, including open- and closed-end load and no-load funds, and diverse fund types. Our clients' fund portfolios range in number from one to more than 200, with assets under management ranging from $1 million to $500 billion. Our clients' variety of operational structures includes the use of multiple boards of directors as well as multiple service providers in multiple locations.
KPMG's Alternative Investments Practice
The market for alternative investments remains buoyant and continues to grow in demand. The industry is moving from sideline status to the mainstream, driven by client demand and revenue potential. Of course, as the industry grows, so does the interest of federal regulators, as well as emerging administrative capacity constraints, as providers and systems struggle to meet industry growth.
Our Alternative Investments Practice, a key segment within our AM practice, is equipped to help clients deal with the challenges and opportunities of this burgeoning industry. It's an integrated global network of audit, tax, and advisory professionals focused on hedge funds and alternative investments. The practice has a presence in every major global financial jurisdiction, from EMA to the Americas to ASPAC.
Our professionals regularly work with all of the major hedge funds, providing SAS 70 attestation services, business advisory consulting, contract internal audit services, and more. This has also improved our ability to analyze structural, operational, and technological attributes of the hedge fund administration business.
Insurance
Our Insurance practice is comprised of two segments and six sub-segments and is supported by professionals who serve both public and non-public companies in the Life, Property & Casualty, Insurance Brokerage, and Reinsurance segments.
Working together, these experienced and knowledgeable professionals help insurance clients deal with a changing business world. They do so, with the ingenuity and coverage of a global network of insurance professionals, the insights and understanding that come from their experience, and thought leadership that is original and insightful; as well as extraordinary dedication and commitment from every professional in our global insurance practice.
In the U.S., KPMG Audits 27% of the largest 100 insurance companies and groups as compiled from A.M. Best.*
KPMG provides services to 75% of the top 20 insurance companies ranked on the 2007 Fortune 1000 list.**
Real Estate
Real Estate is comprised of one segment and four sub-segments. We approach real estate as an industry, as a class of investment assets and, in the case of corporate real estate portfolios, as an opportunity to help our clients to increase stakeholder value.
We understand the key challenges impacting the real estate industry, such as:
- Access to capital
- Access to product
- Continued pressure to increase profitability
- Accurate anticipation of market trends and customer needs
- Increased focus on corporate governance, fraud risk, and controls
- Continually changing tax legislation
- Organizational issues caused by consolidation, growth, and systems
- Heightened risk management
- Elevated investor expectations
We believe that our ability to provide tailored service delivery via a trained team of real estate professionals can be a critical success factor in addressing these changing market challenges. We have invested considerable resources in building a real estate business model that links risk with internal controls and the key processes that manage them, and have provided our professionals with the training necessary to empower them to add value.
