KPMG's Asia Pacific region sees strong FY19 revenue growth as regional strategy takes off

HONG KONG,Dec. 30,2019 --KPMG's Asia Pacific region has seen a regional revenue increase of 9.3% for FY19 delivered on the back of an ambitious strategy announced a year ago. This continues the strong growth streak posted by the region in recent years as its investments in people,innovation and technology start to take off.

Honson To,Chairman of KPMG's Asia Pacific region and Chairman of KPMG China said: "I'm particularly delighted that Asia Pacific continues to be the fastest growing region at KPMG,driven by a 14.1% growth in services provided by Advisory."

All three key functions saw clear growth,with revenues of US$2.14 billion in Audit,US$0.87 billion in Tax & Legal,US$2.13 billion in Advisory,and US$5.14 billion overall in Asia Pacific.

As part of its trust and growth strategy,KPMG's Asia Pacific region announced last year an ambition to double in size by 2023.The region has committed to a multi-year investment program which will further develop holistic and tailored solutions for its clients,and support co-creation with clients and alliances through innovation hubs,ignition centres and other centres of excellence across the region.

An example of this is the KPMG Originstracker which empowers supply chain participants across multiple industries with a blockchain-based track and trace solution. Additional solutions focused on cyber security challenges work by patrolling and monitoring systems,allowing for identification of suspicious activities happening under the radar.

And investments in cybersecurity,blockchain,cloud-based and technology tools and solutions,and KPMG's Audit technology platform,KPMG Clara,are already aiding clients in new unimagined ways.

"Our clients are reacting positively to the services and solutions which are helping them to transform. The trajectory continues to look healthy for KPMG in Asia Pacific as we grow stronger together,and as the organization looks to this region to act as a global growth engine," added To.

"Ways of working are evolving,expectations are changing,geopolitics are impacting trading performance and technology is racing ahead,sometimes even before the last new thing has been fully explored."

"To this end,KPMG's investments in people remain unabated so we can continue to make a difference for our clients. And while we have grown to more than 46,000 people in Asia Pacific,we continue our plans to create more professional roles focused on broadening our capability to include STEM skills and developing the next generation of cyber security,cloud and regulatory change experts,solution architects and digital transformation specialists. This is in line with KPMG's investment of $5 billion globally in innovation,people and technology over the next five years to create value for our people and clients."

Audit,Tax and Advisory

Audit

KPMG is committed to improving quality and consistency by investing in game-changing methodologies and technology innovations. During 2019 KPMG continued the roll out of KPMG Clara,our smart audit platform which brings KPMG's powerful data and analytics capabilities into one interface,allowing our professionals to work smarter while interacting with clients online in real time as they conduct the audit.

As part of the network's collective strategy all KPMG firms are committed to driving tangible and sustainable advances in quality and consistency. As a global organization,KPMG is driving the use of centralization to achieve the consistency regulators and stakeholders expect and deserve.

Tax & Legal Services*

Growth in Legal Services has been supported by the continuing expansion of coverage of the offering across KPMG in the region.

With the introduction of new technologies and enhanced service offerings,KPMG has been able to help tax and legal leaders not only meet compliance obligations but also transform their departments and establish new ways of working through such initiatives as Tax Reimagined,KPMG's unique framework that combines the strengths of our technology,transformation and compliance capabilities. KPMG's work in the region has been recognised with industry awards including the International Tax Review's 2019 award for Asia's Transfer Pricing and Disputes and Litigation Firm of the Year.

* Legal services may not be offered to SEC registrant audit clients or where otherwise prohibited by law.

Advisory

As our clients shape,transform and protect their businesses to maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly digital world,they are looking to KPMG's capabilities and globally-minded practitioners to help them address these critical challenges and opportunities. KPMG's deep industry expertise,a future-focused view of sectors and business models and our strong tools,methods and technologies help clients hone their strategies,align their operations across the enterprise,and become more customer centric.

KPMG is proud to be recognised as the top consulting organization in Asia Pacific in 2018 by Source Consulting. In 2019,KPMG was ranked as a Leader in 25 major evaluations in areas central to our client's transformation agendas including cybersecurity and artificial intelligence,digital change management,and corporate services as well as our Powered Enterprise and Connected Enterprise solutions.

KPMG FY19 member firm revenues (US$ billions)RegionsCurrentPriorLocal Growth (%)US$ Growth (%)Americas11.7211.106.6%5.6%Asia Pacific5.144.889.3%5.3%EMA12.8912.984.7%(0.7%)Total29.7528.966.2%2.7%FunctionsCurrentPriorLocal Growth (%)US$ Growth (%)Audit11.1811.153.7%0.3%Tax6.626.347.8%4.4%Advisory11.9511.477.9%4.2%Total29.7528.966.2%2.7%All figures throughout this document are in US dollars. All growth figures are in local currency except where noted.FY19 and FY18 revenues,reported in USD billions,are translated at the average exchange rates prevailing in each respective financial year.The industry analysis excludes revenues reported outside of KPMG's standard sector taxonomy. Prior year figures have been restated to reflect FY18 sector reclassifications.Local growth percentages are based on maintaining consistent FY19 exchange rates across both FY19 and FY18.The following global reports have also been issued by KPMG International:KPMG's 2019 Global Reviewreflects on our record of achievement over the past year,demonstrating the insights and expertise of KPMG professionals and the unrelenting focus on acting with integrity and quality in everything we do.KPMG's 2019 International Transparency Report provides insights and details on how we continually strive to enhance audit quality,which is a direct reflection of the KPMG network's unwavering commitment to audit quality,an integral element of our business and culture.About KPMG KPMG is a global network of professional services firms providing Audit,Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 147 countries and territories and have more than 219,000 people working in member firms around the world. In Asia Pacific,KPMG operates in 20 countries and territories with more than 46,000 people in members firms in the region. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"),a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.The financial information set forth represents combined information of the separate KPMG member firms that perform professional services for clients. The information is combined here solely for presentation purposes.KPMG International performs no services for clients nor,concomitantly,generates any client revenue.Headcount figures are expressed as FTE (full-time equivalent) and are based on average headcount for the financial year.DisclaimerThroughout this document,"we","KPMG","us" and "our" refer to the network of independent member firms operating under the KPMG name and affiliated with KPMG International or to one or more of these firms or to KPMG International. KPMG International provides no client services. No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-a-vis third parties,nor does KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm.Throughout this document,references to "Firm","KPMG firm","member firm" and "KPMG member firm" refer to firms which are either: members of KPMG International as a matter of Swiss law; sublicensee firms of KPMG International; or entities that are owned,managed and controlled by an entity that is a member or a sublicensee. The overall governance structure of KPMG International is provided in the 'Governance and leadership' section of the KPMG International Transparency

Report.