Spain is hiring Big4 firms for independent audit banking

Spain has picked the "Big Four" accounting and consulting firms PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young to carry out independent detailed audits of its impoverished banking sector. The world's four biggest professional services firms will focus on the performance of Spain's second-tier banks and regional savings lenders.

According to Spanish newspapers, the objective is to provide financial markets with an objective and expert view of the situation of Spanish banks. This was announced by a Spanish spokesperson to Reuters.

The audit will take a few months and is expected to be complete at the end of the summer.

Complementary research

Hiring Big4 firms is part of multiple efforts by the Spanish government and the central bank to stimulate the confidence in the impoverished banking sector. The review will complement the stress tests that Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger are currently performing. Recently it was made public that the Spanish government hired Roland Berger and Oliver Wyman to map the impoverished circumstances of this sector. These two strategy advisory firms check and stress test banks’ balances to map banks’ stock buffers. The strategy advisory firms present their results, as expected, by the end of June.