GBRW Consulting – the first two decades
In late 1994, I began discussions with three former colleagues about starting the new consulting venture which was to become GBRW Limited.
The timing was very favourable, since it coincided with the opening up of Central and Eastern Europe’s centrally planned economies. Governments needed help to reform their financial sectors and a range of initiatives from the British Government and European Commission were funding large numbers of consultancy projects to support this process.
This also came at a time when the four of us were looking to reshape our careers and the transformation of the Central and Eastern European banking sectors provided the opportunity to do so.
We chose the name GBRW from the initials of our four founders, Gaye Boyette, Stuart Burton, Paul Rex, and Lawrence Wragg – which conveniently included “GB” – and incorporated in April 1995.
Around this same time, a surge of litigation in the UK following the recession of the early 1990s created significant demand for banking expert witnesses. This work developed in parallel with our consulting activities and eventually led us to create a separate subsidiary, GBRW Expert Witness Limited,
Thirty years on, our consulting work has grown well beyond Europe, reaching clients in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean, with team members now based in London, Washington, Hanoi, and Azerbaijan. GBRW Expert Witness expanded substantially following the Global Financial Crisis and merged with Martello Expert Services last year.
The GBRW website carries details of our more recent consulting assignments, but in the year when we’ve celebrated our 30th anniversary my colleagues asked me to recap some of the key developments in GBRW’s first 20 years. Some of the highlights of our engagements below illustrate how our practice has grown in both subject areas and geographic reach:
1995 to 2002 |
Department for International Development, UKManagement of teams of advisers seconded to four Polish State-owned banks to support them in restructuring non-performing loans and to develop debt and equity turnaround funds. |
2001 |
People’s Bank of China, PRCSeminar for the Department of International Development in China on Bank Debt Resolution and Enterprise Reform. |
2002 |
Office of Fair Trading, UKAdviser to the Office of Fair Trading on banking issues arising from the Competition Commission Report on the Supply of Banking Services to SMEs. |
2002 |
Ugandan Parliament, UgandaA Report laid before the Ugandan Parliament on the sale of Uganda Commercial Bank, the country’s largest bank by network, addressing legality, fairness and transparency in the handling of the transaction. |
2002-2004 |
Agency for Deposit Insurance, Serbia & MontenegroAsset Administration consolidation managers for the Agency for Deposit Insurance, Rehabilitation, Bankruptcy and Liquidation of Banks for five banks in liquidation. Supported by PwC Belgrade and Sofia as subcontractors. |
2004-2006 |
Ministry of Finance, BangladeshGBRW led a consortium which included PKF, Lloyds TSB and two local consulting firms in a US$ 2.6 million advisory contract to provide advice to the Ministry of Finance on the restructuring of Rupali Bank, the country’s fourth largest bank. |
2007 |
Banque Misr, EgyptAs part of a Lloyds Bank team, advised Banque Misr’s on a wide range of institutional strengthening initiatives, including a planned merger with Banque du Caire. |
2008-2009 |
National Commission for Privatisation, Sierra LeoneAdvice to National Commission for Privatisation on valuation and sale of 51% shareholding in Rokel Bank Limited (in consortium with DLA Piper LLP). |
2010 to 2015 |
Stockholm, Tunis and LondonSeminars for Swedish and Finnish Ministries of Foreign Affairs, African Development, Bank and EBRD on Multilateral Development Bank financial issues. |
2011 |
Social Fund for Development, EgyptStrategy for development of lending to franchisee SMEs under a US$40 mn line of credit from the African Development Bank. |
2013
|
National Bank of Belize Ltd, BelizeBusiness Plan for the Start-Up and Initial Three-Year Operation of National Bank of Belize Ltd. The assignment deliverables included a Banking Licence Application to the Central Bank of Belize, which was approved within two months from submission. |
2014
|
Asia Green Development Bank, Myanmar5 Year Strategic Plan in conjunction with the Bank’s planned IPO. Delivered five year Business Plan, a financial model to project asset growth, asset mix, funding, earnings and capital adequacy over a 5 year period and recommendations on steps to be taken by the Bank. |
2015 |
Development Bank of Rwanda, RwandaReviewed the Development Bank of Rwanda’s ambitious 5 year growth plan for the Bank’s CEO and CFO, highlighted key risk and capital adequacy issues and developed a financial model to enable senior management to access the impact of various growth scenarios. |
2016 |
Mutual Bank, South AfricaEnterprise Risk Management overview, five year financial projections to model strategic choices and risk/capital adequacy implications and new Credit Policies and Procedures Manual for a rapidly growing Black-owned private bank. |
2018 |
Ministry of Economic Development, CuraçaoScoping mission for development of lending policies and capital efficient provision of credit for the Curaçao Development Institute. |
Looking back over this period, what have been the factors behind our success then and today?
I believe that these have been our own experience as hands-on practitioners in major financial institutions, the consistent involvement of our directors in delivering assignments, an enthusiasm for tackling the intellectual challenges of new products and markets, and above all a collegial approach which has motivated us to work together to deliver the best possible support to our clients and to each other.
Paul Rex
Founder and Chairman, GBRW