PwC Austria leads new consultancy for joint loan servicing platform

Consultancy firm PwC Austria is teaming up with the Silverton Group and 720° Restructuring & Advisory to set up a long-term co-operative loan servicing platform enabling international investors and banks to outsource their non-performing loan (NPL) and non-core loan commitments, primarily in Eastern Europe.

Under the Vienna-based partnership, PwC will bring up-to-date expertise in processes, compliance and data management, while Silverton and 720° will provide local expertise in restructuring and workout approaches to complex credit exposures. The key advantages of the platform, say the three partners, is the consistent cross-national customer service and individual reporting, with particular heed to local compliance regulations.

The platform currently manages a property-secured NPL portfolio with a volume in the double-digit millions. A number of estimates suggest that over €40bn of non-performing loans are slumbering in the southeast Europe target markets, with up to €1 trillion in Europe as a whole.

'For the first time, loan commitments in Eastern Europe can be managed across national boundaries and with consistently high quality,' said Bernhard Engel, partner and leader financial services at PwC Austria.

Jascha Hofferbert, managing partner of Silverton, added: 'The cooperation between PwC, 720° and Silverton offers banks and investors all the advantages of a global consulting firm as a central point of contact, together with our special expertise in credit servicing and our local presence in the countries concerned.'