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Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (PIF) has lifted a year-long ban on new advisory work from PwC, Semafor Gulf reported on Monday, citing folks acquainted with the matter, permitting the consultancy to renew pitching for work with one in all its most vital regional shoppers.
The sovereign wealth fund knowledgeable PwC that restrictions imposed in February 2025 had been lifted, in keeping with Semafor. PIF declined to remark, whereas PwC didn’t reply to their request for remark.
The ban had utilized to new advisory and consulting companies for PIF and its portfolio firms, whereas PwC’s audit work continued unaffected. The restriction dealt a big blow to PwC’s Center East enterprise, prompting the agency to chop round 60 companions and 1,500 employees throughout the area, Semafor reported.
Neither PIF nor PwC publicly disclosed the explanations for the ban when it was imposed. Nonetheless, the Monetary Occasions reported in March that the fallout was triggered after PwC tried to rent the chief inside audit officer of NEOM, the $500 billion mega-project managed by PIF.
Saudi authorities considered the transfer as a breach of belief, in keeping with the FT, given issues that it may have supplied the agency with entry to delicate inside data. PwC’s consulting work was subsequently frozen, whereas its audit enterprise continued.
The suspension initially excluded PwC from main Imaginative and prescient 2030-linked tasks, together with Purple Sea International and AlUla, the place the agency had beforehand held vital advisory mandates, in keeping with folks acquainted with the matter cited by Semafor.
PwC reshuffles regional management
Within the months following the ban, PwC sought to restore relations with Saudi officers. The agency’s world chairman, Mohamed Kande, travelled to Riyadh for conferences with wealth fund executives, and PwC later reshuffled its regional management, appointing Laura Hinton to guide its Center East enterprise from late 2025, Semafor reported.
The lifting of the ban comes as Saudi Arabia’s consulting market slows following a number of years of speedy progress. Authorities belt-tightening has diminished demand for exterior advisers, with Bloomberg reporting {that a} broader slowdown in spending is roiling the sector.
PwC stated its Europe, Center East and Africa revenues rose 8.6 per cent within the 12 months ended June 2024, making it the agency’s fastest-growing area on the time.
PwC has begun pitching once more for brand new advisory mandates with PIF and its subsidiaries, Semafor reported.
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