Accenture strengthens financial services with BCS Consulting

Accenture, a multinational professional services company that specialises in IT services and consulting, has acquired BCS Consulting, a UK management consultancy that delivers complex business change for financial services firms.

Headquartered in London, BCS Consulting’s 250 strong team joins Accenture’s U.K. Financial Services Strategy and Consulting practice.

Founded in 2001, BCS Consulting drives major change programmes for the UK’s leading financial services firms across technology, finance, operations, and risk and regulation. Its industry advisory expertise and experience in areas including payments, open banking, operational resilience, financial crime, and cost optimisation, complements and strengthens Accenture’s existing industry consulting and technology capabilities. 

Paul Brock, CEO of BCS Consulting, said, “Helping financial services firms navigate complex business change has been our priority since day one. Our industry focus, coupled with Accenture’s scale and scope and its expertise in helping financial services firms across the world embrace change, will enable us to extend our capabilities to a broader client base. We’re excited to become part of one of the world’s leading companies and look forward to the opportunities this will bring to our employees and clients.”

The pandemic has caused digital disruption, meaning financial firms have a lot to contend with 

The acquisition builds on some of Accenture’s most recent financial services acquisitions — Mudano, Orbium and Parker Fitzgerald — and expands client offerings, creating new ways to deliver sustainable value with a deep understanding of client needs and market challenges.

“Financial services firms continue to contend with core challenges that have been intensified by the pandemic, such as unmanageable cost levels and digital disruption,” said Adam Markson, managing director in Accenture’s U.K. financial services strategy and consulting practice. "BCS Consulting has a strong track record helping firms address these issues. From designing solutions to technology implementation, BCS Consulting’s end-to-end capabilities help the sector create business models that drive new efficiencies and competitiveness, bolster resilience and keep pace with change."

BCS Consulting is the sixth acquisition that Accenture has made in the UK in 2021 following the acquisitions of Edenhouse and Infinity Works in February, Cirrus and REPL in March and Xoomworks in October. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Paul Stanley, head of financial services at Accenture in the U.K. and Ireland concluded, “The pandemic has created fundamental and permanent shifts in how consumers want to engage with financial services. Firms in the sector face a critical need to transform their business models to rapidly meet these shifting demands.”