Deloitte quits its Swiss base for British HQ
ACCOUNTING giant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has given the UK a vote of confidence after ditching its Swiss base and relocating to British shores.
The move comes as part of a radical legal overhaul of the accountant’s global structure and sees Deloitte make the UK its new legal home.
As part of the legal overhaul, Deloitte has moved its global management and governance functions from its previous structure to a newly established UK private company called Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.
Deloitte has moved away from the Swiss verein structure, commonly used by accounting and law firms. Under a verein structure, a company can operate a number of smaller arms with separate profit pools and revenue streams while still sharing a brand.
The accounting giant said it made the move after decades of operating under its previous structure. A statement said: “We concluded that, although the Verein structure had served us well over the years, we had outgrown it.”
It will not deliver any tax benefits to the Treasury because each region will still pay taxes locally.
The move has been welcomed by City figures, which said it is a signal that the UK is still considered as an important business centre.
“The fact that Deloitte is moving to the UK shows that [we] remain attractive,” commented a partner at a City law firm.