20 new consultants in Financial Services Competence Center

Risk management expertise bolstered through integration of KDB, and insurance industry consulting expanded

• Financial Services Competence Center takes on 6 new Partners and 14 additional experts
• Integration of Krall Demmel Business Consulting (KDB) adds 16-member team
• Further experts hired from other strategy consulting firms
• Expertise expanded in risk management and insurance consulting

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants is hiring 20 experienced experts in the financial services sector. The new hires include 6 Partners, 3 of them in Germany. With currently around 25 Partners and 200 consultants, the global Financial Services Competence Center is one of the fastest-growing areas of the world's leading strategy consulting firm of European origin. "The financial crisis has led to tighter regulation in the financial sector", says Dr. Udo Bröskamp, head of the global Financial Services Competence Center at Roland Berger. "The business environment for banks and insurance companies is undergoing radical change." The consultants are responding to this change by expanding their team of experts and bolstering their expertise in risk management and in consulting for the insurance industry.

The integration of KDB Krall Demmel Business Consulting GmbH, with a geographical focus in Germany, Austria and the Middle East, brings 16 specialists to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. Their core risk management expertise will fortify Roland Berger's Financial Services team at its Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Zurich and Manama/Bahrain offices. The KDB management team has years of experience in strategy consulting for multinational financial institutions, investors, regulators and other players in the international financial market. Dr. Markus Krall and Dr. Roland Demmel will join the Partners in Germany: Founding partner and Managing Director of KDB, Dr. Markus Krall began his career at Allianz AG in Munich before switching to strategy consulting and working, for example, as a Senior Partner at McKinsey. With a doctorate in economics, he served as Chief Risk Officer and member of the board at Converium Reinsurance in Zurich before founding KDB. Dr. Roland Demmel is likewise a founding partner and Managing Director of KDB. An industrial engineer with a doctorate in political science, he has 11 years of experience in the financial industry, of which he spent 10 as a consultant (prior to KDB, for instance as a Partner at KPMG Advisory). KDP partner Dr. Dietrich Matthes will become a Partner in the Manama, Bahrain office, and Walter Mussil in Vienna.

Furthermore, Stefan Wojahn will join the existing Partners in the Hamburg office. With a degree in physics, he spent ten years working for Boston Consulting Group. His consulting work focuses on issues relating to sales and processes in the insurance industry. He will concentrate on public insurance companies and the cooperative sector. Dr. Lukas D. Weber will be our new Partner in Zurich specializing in the insurance industry. After his Ph.D. in business, he started his career at Zürich Versicherungs-Gesellschaft before switching to an American strategy consultancy. He then spent several years with Zurich Financial Services, becoming CEO of Zurich Life Switzerland. Later, Weber worked at UBS AG in Zurich and Basle, most recently in charge of institutional clients.

"We are pleased to have our new colleagues to further expand our Financial Services Competence Center and especially our risk management expertise, which is becoming increasingly important for our clients", says Dr. Martin Wittig, member of the global Executive Committee and CFO of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. "Our consultancies have the same basic understanding, the same style and the same approach to strategy consulting, creating the greatest value added for our clients".