By Staff Writer
Deloitte has acquired Singapore-based digital consultancy firm, Practical Smarts, as part of its risk advisory practice in Southeast Asia to enhance the team’s expertise in Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)/Blockchain advisory services in the region, according to a press release.
Established in 2017, Practical Smarts’ core business is in providing expert advisory services on business, technical and regulatory matters related to the usage of asset-backed digital tokens within the financial services industry.
Together, Deloitte and Practical Smarts will offer clients a dedicated DLT/Blockchain service for businesses in Southeast Asia as part of the Deloitte Asia Pacific Blockchain Lab, the statement said.
Practical Smarts’ co-founders Stanley Yong and Andrew Koay, based in Singapore, will co-lead the Deloitte Blockchain Lab in Southeast Asia. The lab will work with organizations planning to implement and deploy DLT/Blockchain solutions to address governance, regulatory, settlement and enforceability concerns.
The lab will be hiring and training FinTech professionals with an emphasis on digital and cyber security.
Paul Sin, blockchain lab leader, Deloitte Asia Pacific (pictured above) said: “Blockchain is enabling numerous cross-industry and cross-border ecosystems across the world, and Deloitte has been leading the market with three regional labs and 1,500 practitioners globally.”
Practical Smarts’ co-founder Stanley Young said: “Blockchain is gaining momentum in the region and acceptance is growing across multiple industries. The benefits and limitations of Blockchain have been revealed through proof of concepts, and the focus is now on production and implementation where risk management becomes a critical concern.”
He believes that the latest transaction will allow the two firms to “generate more value to our clients, and we can leverage our shared knowledge and expertise to create sustainable and widely adopted business solutions aligned to enterprise needs in today’s fast-evolving marketplace.”
Practical Smarts’ Andrew Koay said: “The combined strengths of Deloitte and Practical Smarts, operating in the ASEAN region where there is a burgeoning of technology entrepreneurs and start-ups, will put us at the forefront to meet the demand as our clients seek to use one professional services firm to deliver market-leading strategic advice and industry-leading solutions for their business needs.”
Deloitte Southeast Asia Chief Executive Officer, Philip Yuen, said: “Digital technology is transforming the financial markets in the Southeast Asia region and Blockchain is a key component of this transformation. The team from Practical Smarts will complement Deloitte’s cyber and digital assurance services by securing the assets to be transferred over the network and the underlying transfer protocol.
