Whoʼs News October 19

Roland Földvári

Directors Named at PwC Hungary

PwC Hungary has announced the appointment of new directors in its tax, audit and advisory service lines, also welcoming a fresh arrival Roland Földvári as director in advisory in September.

Gábor Farkas (34) joined PwC Hungary’s tax advisory team in 2008. Specializing in value-added tax, he assisted local municipalities, as well as Hungarian and multinational companies, in managing their tax matters. After a secondment to Munich, Farkas focused on developing automated tax solutions.

Roland Földvári (39) joined PwC Hungary’s deals practice in early September as director. Prior to this, he worked for three years at another professional services firm, where he managed due diligence projects, and provided IFRS advice on M&A transactions. Before that, he spent eight and a half years with the MOL Group in various roles, including head of group financial reporting, and was in charge of long-term planning at MOL’s strategy development unit.

Csaba Gyimesi (38) joined PwC Hungary nine years ago, and is currently leader of cyber and IT security and risk assurance. His areas of expertise include IT security audits, data protection, GDPR compliance and certification, and performing assurance engagements on IT strategy and maturity. He is also involved in training senior executives and staff, and provides support for various simulations and tests. Prior to PwC, Gyimesi worked for five years at a consulting firm, where he took part in system implementation and integration projects, mainly in CRM, data analytics, and ERP.

Gábor Halmosi (35) joined PwC Hungary’s capital markets and accounting advisory services and PwC’s academy team in 2011. His main area of expertise is assisting companies and groups with preparing their financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards. He has played a significant role in preparing the adoption of IFRS in Hungary. Prior to joining PwC, he worked for four years at another professional services firm, where he was primarily engaged in auditing the Hungarian subsidiaries of multinational enterprises.

Péter Honyek (41) joined PwC Hungary’s tax advisory team in 2014. His main field of expertise is tax consulting related to personal income tax and social security. Prior to joining PwC, he served as head of department at the former Ministry for National Economy (now Ministry of Finance), where he was responsible for preparing personal income tax legislation. He previously worked as spokesman for tax matters at the National Tax and Customs Administration. In addition to international enterprises, his clients include family businesses and private individuals, and he also provides advice to non-profit organizations.

Dániel Kiss (40) joined PwC Hungary’s technology consulting team in 2016. His areas of expertise include CIO advisory, IT strategy design, IT operations development, systems integration, and systems implementation. He also contributes to enhancing PwC’s presence on the enterprise IT market through design and implementation of transformation programs. Over the past 18 years, Kiss has held leadership positions in technology consulting, software manufacturing, and telecommunications service provider companies in Hungary and several other European countries.

András Korompay (48) joined PwC Hungary’s risk assurance services team in 2018, where he leads the SAP consulting business line and has been working on setting up PwC’s SAP Center of Excellence. His main areas of expertise include strategy development, operations assessment, efficiency improvement, and leading and providing quality assurance for very large information technology projects.

Dr. Krisztina Kőmíves (40) left the National Tax and Customs Administration to join PwC Hungary’s tax advisory practice in 2006. Her primary role is leading the team that handles bookkeeping and payroll functions outsourced to PwC by domestic and foreign clients. She has also advised clients extensively on matters concerning value-added tax and tax administration proceedings.

Dr. Tibor Szabó (46) joined the predecessor of Réti, Várszegi & Partners Law Firm PwC Legal in 2003, and currently leads the firm’s finance law practice. In addition to finance law, he has gained substantial experience in acquisitions, tax law, and trust law. He provides full-scope legal services to his main clients, which include major companies from the banking and capital markets sector and high net-worth individuals.

Dr. László Szűcs (48) joined the predecessor of Réti, Várszegi & Partners Law Firm PwC Legal. From the start, he was instrumental in setting up and then leading the law firm’s labor law practice, and has also gained considerable experience in real estate law, construction law, and data protection law. Szűcs provides full-scope legal services to his main clients, which include major companies from the FMCG, pharmaceutical, and automotive sectors.

Szabolcs Posta

Real Estate Expert Joins EY Law Office

Szabolcs Posta has joined the Vámosi-Nagy Ernst & Young Law Office as the leader of its real estate legal team, bringing more than two decades of legal experience to the post, the company says.

Prior to joining EY, Posta led the real estate law group of White & Case LLP’s Budapest office, and later acted as law and compliance director at road haulage firm Waberer’s International, taking part in preparing and executing its entry to the stock market.

He has been involved in numerous real estate law transactions, commercial real estate developments, joint venture, project financing and restructuring projects in the past two decades. Former clients include several private capital and real estate funds, as well as multinational corporations.

“The real estate market will be one of the most active areas in the upcoming years, where larger transactions require complex tax optimization, and restructuring,” said Posta. “One of EY’s advantages is that, with the cooperation of different fields and the maximum utilization of synergies, it can provide effective services alongside the rationalization of transaction costs.”

Partner Iván Sefer, head of the EY Hungary law office, said: “With the arrival of Szabolcs, we can build a deeper, more specialized relationship with our clients, and we can help their operations in more aspects. We can definitely feel the market demand for this. We’re very glad that we can broaden our team with such a great expert. With our renowned financial and company law groups, we hope that we can provide outstanding real estate law services with Szabolcs,” he added

Posta also has plenty of international experience, having attended postgraduate courses in England and the U.S. after receiving his degree at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Over the course of his career, he has worked in both London and New York, taking part in corporate and transaction projects.

Tamás Szauer

Deloitte Appoints Director of Risk Management

Deloitte has announced the appointment of Tamás Szauer as its new director of the risk management business line, with Szauer working as an external advisor for Deloitte before the appointment, according to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal.

Szauer, an expert with 15 years of experience, will be in charge of controlling Deloitte’s risk management projects involving financial institutions.

“Joining the Deloitte team is an exciting challenge for me. With growing regulatory and supervisory expectations and a need for increasingly complex knowledge, the financial market has plenty of opportunities for us,” says Szauer. “Modern quantitative methodologies and machine learning, which have practically appeared in all sectors and are continuously spreading, play an important role. I think that with my professional experience, I can contribute to further success on a regional level.”

The newly appointed director began his risk management career at leading regional banking groups K&H and OTP, afterwards working on the implementation of the Basel II regulation in Hungary and Central Europe. Later, he joined Raiffeisen International, and was responsible for the introduction of the regulation in Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo, and Poland, as well as the validation of the retail model.

Over the course of his career, he also worked at the FHB Group in the portfolio and risk management field. Szauer participated in due diligence, portfolio valuation and transformation projects, as well as in the development of collection processes. He joined Magyar Posta as deputy CEO responsible for financial services and the network in 2012. He was involved in multiple large volume projects in the renewal of financial services, the launch of new payment channels, and network optimization.