How EY is innovating financial services corporate finance

Growth, development, innovation and opportunity: these four words perfectly encapsulate the working environment within EY’s Financial Services Corporate Finance team in London.

“Our growth rate at the moment is incredible,” says Ian Cosgrove, Partner and Head of Financial Services Corporate Finance at EY. “In the last 18 months our deal volume has doubled.”

Ian’s Corporate Finance team started expanding in earnest in 2015, increasing its coverage to include FinTech and asset servicing, and hiring financial services debt advisory specialists to sit alongside M&A advice professionals. Ian expects to keep recruiting at the same rate over the next two years to reflect the market demand.

“We’re constantly bringing in talent to help execute the expanded pipeline of work we’ve got, and to make sure we are well resourced to keep up with the pace of demand,” he says.

“A strong part of our identity is innovating and thinking ahead to what corporate finance should look like in the years to come,” explains Ian.

This desire to be innovative and stand out from the competition is reflected in the fact that Ian’s Corporate Finance team has brought M&A and debt advice under one umbrella. Many other professional services firms as well as boutique advisory houses splits these two services.

“This gives us an edge,” says Ian. “In many sectors, there are difficulties around talking about one side of your balance sheet and not being able to discuss the other side. We can to the entire capital structure and bring a holistic view to clients. It enables us to think about the bigger picture; we can ask ‘what is on your agenda and what are you looking to achieve?’ We don’t just have a single product, but a broader solution.”

The market is moving at a rapid pace in terms of embracing digital technology. The Financial Services Corporate Finance team is looking to harness technology to improve analytics, find new sources of capital, and streamline the whole M&A process. “Any client embarking on a corporate finance transaction knows it’s a long and intensive journey. We’re investing in technology to speed that up because momentum is important, while at the same time improving the quality of the deal,” says Ian. “Also, we are developing a tool that will use Artificial Intelligence to improve our ability to match those looking for capital with those who have it.”

The team is also using technology to take clients’ underlying data and present it back to them in new and insightful ways. “Not just in a transaction context, but to help them make other business decisions too,” says Ian.

Kaidi Kuusk, an Assistant Director in Financial Services Corporate Finance at EY, describes her work in Ian’s team as “incredibly exciting, fast-paced and innovative”. Kaidi joined EY’s graduate programme in 2008 and enjoyed fast career progression to her current rank. She says her rapid rise reflects a working environment that encourages career development.

Kaidi has been supported in her career by both the Corporate Finance team and the broader Transaction Advisory business, and says she enjoys the variety of her job. “I’ve been able to get involved in transactions in an accelerated way, so I work on anything from banking to payments to some niche insurance sectors, and with clients ranging from founder-owned companies to major corporations,” she adds.

She likes the fact that she sees transactions through from start to finish and can therefore build relationships with key stakeholders and really get under the skin of businesses to help solve their most complex challenges. “There’s also a lot of deep sector knowledge and expertise within EY’s Financial Services business, so I can quickly learn a lot about a variety of sectors and transactions,” she says.

Kaidi has recently taken on a secondment opportunity at EY. Working in the firm’s Global Banking Leadership team, she is helping to grow the banking and advisory transaction business. “This came about through conversations in my review. I was encouraged to take advantage of the breadth of areas at the firm and improve my understanding of how it works,” she says.

For those interested in joining EY, there is a clear, structured path to improve knowledge. “The Corporate Finance team in our financial services business is a small, supportive family, with lots of opportunity for progression,” says Ian. “There are a range of learning opportunities, delivered in our own team and across the firm, and covering sector-based topics as well as core corporate finance skills, such as valuation and modelling,” adds Kaidi. As EY staff progress their careers, there are plenty of opportunities to learn, collaborate and have fun achieve within the firm.

And this cross-firm collaboration extends into the workplace. “If you’ve got a regulatory or accounting problem for example, there’s someone a few desks down who can sit and have a coffee with you to explain it,” says Ian. “Working at EY is all about collaboration. It’s why we deeply value our connections with everyone – clients, like-minded organisations and individuals, and each other.”

All of this highlights the strong, inclusive people culture within the firm. EY is proud to have a number of employee networks, which celebrate and promote diversity and inclusion, and provided further opportunities for its employees to connect with like-minded people from other teams. It’s one of the main reasons why people choose to join and remain at EY – and the experience they have lasts a lifetime.

See Ian’s LinkedIn profile for further information on transactions the team has recent closed.

Apply now to one of EY’s current opportunities in Corporate Finance

• Senior Executive Corporate Finance – Financial Services
• Assistant Director Corporate Finance – Financial Services