Alumni exclusive: Financial services leaders roundtable

PwC and Strategy& are jointly launching a new series of events: Premium alumni events, a unique personal platform to meet in a hand-picked circle and with former colleagues appreciated at top management level, to discuss sectoral issues and to nurture your own network.

The fragmentation of European financial markets, a low-interest environment and massive pressure to innovate, driven by digitalization, is presenting banks and the whole financial sector with massive challenges. What are the most successful financial services, and what is the best strategy for the various market players to position themselves successfully in the market? These and other questions were aired in a high-calibre podium discussion last Thursday, 21 November, in the exclusive setting of the Sveta Art Gallery in Frankfurt’s Ostend district.

The two hosts, Clemens Koch, FS Leader at PwC, and his counterpart at Strategy&, Philipp Wackerbeck, welcomed as panellists to this première:

Norbert Winkeljohann, former Chairman of the Management Board of PwC Germany and Supervisory Board member at Deutsche Bank AG and Bayer AG, amongst others
Jörg Sandrock, former Partner in the Munich office of Strategy& and now one of the founders of the Swiss banking start-up neon
Christian Eichner, Booz & Company alumnus and Group Chief Strategy Officer at Qatar National Bank

The combination of wholly different perspectives is not happenstance, but part of the event concept itself – and something which went down very well with the around 50 people attending the event.

After this exciting opening, the discussions were continued directly over the flying buffet and at the cocktail bar, with the shared past at PwC or Strategy& serving as an additional conversation-starter.

The new format of the premium alumni events is being gradually expanded through further initiatives, with the aim that these events should establish a platform enabling confidential dialogue between like-minded people.