Ernst - Young (EY) New Zealand has announced the acquisition of technology firm Q4 Associates, with the new development looking to further the company's financial service capabilities and help meet growing compliance and regulation requirements.

Effective from today, the Q4 Associates addition will impact significant areas of EY's working operations, particularly in the financial sector. This will include the strengthening of EY's existing intelligent automation and robotics process automation capabilities, along with bolstering its existing financial services technology consulting team.

The acquisition will also introduce 12 new technology consultants who are joining the EY New Zealand financial services technology consulting team. Based out of the company's Auckland office and servicing the ANZ market, the team includes Q4 Associate's co-founders Samantha Osborne, Maurice Dubey and Shayde Boryer, who will all take active leadership roles.

“This is an exciting next step in the evolution of our business and we are looking forward to being part of the EY regional and global network, which will present fantastic new opportunities for both our people and our clients,” says Osborne.

“With EY looking to grow their existing team by bringing in key talent with deep data skills and local market experience, we knew this opportunity would be a great fit for us as we start a new chapter for our business and the joining together of our teams creates a compelling service offering in the local and regional market.

EY NZ financial services leader Paul Roberts agrees the move is beneficial for all involved, saying that the acquisition creates excellent opportunities for further growth and development as well as better solutions for clients.

“The addition of the Q4 Associates team to our existing New Zealand financial services practice, along with a number of other significant hires and promotions over the last six months, means we are rapidly expanding our presence in the market and continuing to bring our financial services clients the deep industry knowledge and experience they need to help them address some of their most complex challenges,” he says.

“As we continue to grow our recently formed New Zealand financial services practice, it made sense to bring on board a team of highly experienced IA and RPA professionals.

EY financial services intelligent automation leader APAC Brian Collins highlighted that digitisation and automation are priorities within the business, and he says the company is looking forward to helping clients get the best results possible when utilising automation services.

“I am thrilled to be able to offer our clients an expanded set of capabilities with the addition of Q4 Associates to the EY team,” he says

“We have worked alongside Q4 Associates in the market for some time now, and I am confident our shared values and culture align well. This expansion will help us to meet the growing demand for digitisation and automation services in Oceania, as our clients seek to provide the best solutions to their customers.