International financial services consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) plans to hire more staff and open new offices to capture a bigger share of business opportunities in the rapidly-growing Hong Kong and mainland markets.
Ernest Ip Koon-wing, a 25-year veteran with the firm, will be spearheading the expansion. In July, Ip was appointed to the post of senior partner for China and Hong Kong. He was formerly the head of the Hong Kong and China assurance practice of the firm.
The 50-year-old will oversee a significant expansion of staff in his new role, as PwC raises its headcount on the mainland and Hong Kong from the present 10,000, to about 15,000 by 2016. The firm also plans to have five new offices by 2016, lifting the total number of offices from 15 to 20.
The firm's hiring plans are in contrast with ongoing staff cuts across the financial sector.
HSBC has announced a plan to axe 30,000 staff worldwide out of a total of 296,000 by 2013 - including 3,000 in Hong Kong. Bank of America plans to cut 30,000 staff out of 290,000 in the next few years; and Credit Suisse and Lloyds Banking Group said earlier this year they would be cutting staff. The lay-offs come as the banking sector wrestles with higher regulatory costs and a bleak market outlook because of fears about Europe's sovereign debt crisis and the economic slowdown in the United States.
Such worries are not shared by Ip, who told the South China Morning Post that his firm would continue to hire more staff to cope with the growing demand for accounting services on the mainland and Hong Kong.