| Type | Subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan |
|---|---|
| Industry | Management Consulting |
| Founded | 1984; became Oliver Wyman in 2007 |
| Headquarters | New York City, U.S. |
| Key people | John P. Drzik, President |
| Services | Management Consulting |
| Revenue | US$ 1.5 Billion in 2007 |
| Employees | 2900 employees (Oliver Wyman) |
| Website | www.oliverwyman.com |
Oliver Wyman is an international management consulting firm. Founded in 1984, the firm adopted its current form in May 2007, when Mercer Oliver Wyman joined with Mercer Management Consulting and Mercer Delta to become one firm named Oliver Wyman. Oliver Wyman is headquartered in New York City with 40 offices in Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific and employs over 2,900 professionals. It is part of the Oliver Wyman Group, which is a business unit of Marsh & McLennan.
Oliver Wyman is an established leader in the Financial Services consulting industry and has also been described by The New York Times as "a leader in general business consulting." It is one of the business groups that provides Marsh & McLennan with an edge over other insurance brokers.[1] Adrian Slywotzky, a prominent business consultant and author of several books, is a partner at Oliver Wyman.
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Oliver Wyman was formed in May 2007 through the combination of three global consulting businesses :
Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) is the parent company of Oliver Wyman.[1]
In 1984, Oliver, Wyman & Company was founded by Alex Oliver and Bill Wyman - former partners from Booz Allen Hamilton. From 1984 to 1995, Christopher Meyer was Vice President and Group Head at Mercer Management Consulting. In 2003, Oliver, Wyman & Company was bought by MMC and became part of its Mercer Consulting businesses under the name Mercer Oliver Wyman.
Mercer Management Consulting was formed through the combination of Temple, Barker & Sloane, which was founded in Boston in 1970 and acquired by MMC in 1987, and Strategic Planning Associates, which was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1972 and acquired by MMC in 1990. The two companies merged in 1990 as Temple, Barker & Sloane/Strategic Planning Associates, which was renamed Mercer Management Consulting in 1992.
Mercer Delta was founded in New York in 1980 by Dr. David Nadler as Delta Consulting and was acquired by MMC in 2000.
In recent years, Oliver Wyman has been growing rapidly both organically and through acquisitions. In 2008, it acquired several consulting firms, including: ChapterHouse, Academee(UK), Hemeria(France), Celent, and Harbour Consulting.
Oliver Wyman is part of Oliver Wyman Group which includes:
It was reported that Oliver Wyman was the unnamed consulting firm that in 2005 recommended to Citigroup's "senior-most management" to expand parts of its fixed income business, including in collateralised debt obligations(CDO), which led to more than US$50 billion in losses and ultimately a rescue by the U.S. government.[22] However, "people familiar with the analysis provided to Citi say it included ample warnings about the risks of diving into the structured product market, as well as other precautions that should be considered".[23] At that time, Citigroup was led by Chuck Prince, a lawyer who had served as its general counsel and was described as having "relatively limited capital markets experience".[22]
Citigroup was reportedly not the only bank that raised its exposure to CDO based on the advice of external consultants. It has been reported that UBS, based partly on a strategic review of fixed income business by Oliver Wyman, identified large growth potential in structured credit and securitized products and consequently expanded its exposure in these areas. UBS suffered heavy losses subsequently and had to be bailed out by the Swiss government.[23][24]
Oliver Wyman in 2007 named Anglo Irish Bank as the best bank in the world in a piece of research published to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.[25][26][27] The next year the Irish Government was forced to nationalise the Bank at a cost of €25 billion.[28][29][30] Oliver Wyman in 2009 also validated Bank of Ireland’s bad debt levels at €6 billion over three years to March 2011, a bad debt level which Bank of Ireland had exceeded by almost €1 billion within a matter of months.[25]
The Future of the Global Financial System: A Near-Term Outlook and Long-Term Scenarios[31]
Oliver Wyman Financial Services led the research and analysis for this 2009 World Economic Forum publication that explores the driving forces that are shaping the global financial system and how these forces might affect governance and industry structure.
2010 State of the Financial Services Industry report [32]
This publication, the 13th edition, focused this year on the recovery process and steps taken to overcome the seize on interbank lending following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
2010 State of the Communications, Media and Technology Industry report.[33]
This publication analyzes the performance of 450 public CMT companies and identifies key value migration trends in the industry.
State of the Financial Services Industry 2011[34]
This publication "stress tests" the financial system by describing a possible scenario for a future crisis involving bubbles in commodities and related assets.
Oliver Wyman Group partners with non-profit organizations that work to improve the lives of people in the developing world through microfinance, healthcare, and education. Alliances with non-profits include:
Oliver Wyman was ranked 7th in the Vault Consulting 50 for 2011, combining Vault's "Best to Work For" ranking with overall prestige.[35] Consulting Magazine has ranked MOW one of the top 10 consulting firms to work for in 2005, 2006, and 2007.[36]
16. 2010 State of the Communications, Media and Technology Industry report