Accenture weighs in on how companies measure the risks

World
Europe

01:05

‍European Union leaders have agreed to a special summit on November 17-18 to finalize a Brexit deal. And Brexit was also on the mind at this week's World Economic Forum gathering in Tianjin.

The leaders are meeting in Austria's Salzburg to set up the last stretch of talks for the divorce agreement. British Prime Minister Theresa May is in Salzburg, but the other 27 EU leaders will also meet without her, as they figure out an approach in the final negotiations. Brussels initially said it wanted a deal by October. But after months of deadlock, the bloc had proposed a summit in mid-November.

Peter Lacy, senior managing director of the consulting firm Accenture is in an interview with CGTN in Tianjin, China. /CGTN Photo

"With Brexit, we simply do not know because, at this moment, the shape of the deal that would be agreed between Britain and Europe in terms of the final agreement for Brexit is very unclear… I think this is very difficult to understand what it means for global companies… We simply don't know what the end game is going to be,” said Peter Lacy, senior managing director of the consulting firm Accenture.

From his perspective, some service firms, financial services, in particular, have already started to rebalance their businesses geographically. “The truth was that some of the financial services industry already looked at how they could enable the ongoing services so that they can continue to operate for their clients, customers,” he said.

That dynamic balancing has already taken place in some sectors, Lacy noted again, warning that “the final reckoning still needs six to 12 months down the line. I expect that it continues to be some level of uncertainty for a significant period after that.”

(CGTN's Xia Cheng contributed to the story)