Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group
BRAL has been working with Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group (SVB) since they established a presence in the UK in 2004. SVB provides diversified financial services to emerging growth and mature companies in the technology, life insurance, private equity and premium wine markets.
The company has over 1,100 employees worldwide, based in 27 locations across the US, UK, India, China and Israel. SVB has $7 billion in assets and is currently ranked 6th amongst US top banks in their return on average total equity and assets.
BRAL provides SVB UK with full management accounting services to mirror those that would be provided by an internal finance department. This allows SVB’s UK team to focus on running and building their core business. Sandy Chiu, Controller for SVB UK said, “Working with BRAL was one of the best decisions we made. Their top notch accounting system, 24/7 access to reports via eBRAL, attention to detail and responsive, dedicated and specialised team, have all been incredibly helpful in setting up our first foreign office and enabled us to meet our demanding reporting schedule. BRAL has set a very high bar for the rest of our accounting service providers to follow.”
Working in a highly regulated market, it was critical for SVB to partner with an organisation which had rigid controls and procedures. Recent developments relating to Sarbanes-Oxley legislation have meant that SVB, and other US listed companies, need to be seen to be using an outsourcing provider that is SAS 70 accredited. BRAL places a strong emphasis on people, technology and processes. To demonstrate a commitment to the US market and in response to the needs and requirements of our clients, BRAL became the first accounting and administration service organisation in the UK to be awarded the prestigious SAS 70 Type II accreditation.
SVB UK has undergone a number of structural changes in Europe and BRAL has been able to draw on the expertise of our parent firm Blick Rothenberg Chartered Accountants, BRAL’s parent entity. Blick Rothenberg’s corporate tax partners were able to ensure that the restructuring complied with UK requirements and was as efficient as possible. They were also able to advise on the structuring of the group and on contractual relationships entered into, to maximise VAT recovery.
“BRAL continues to be our natural choice for all of our accounting and tax needs, especially for our new ventures”, Ms Chiu added.