Dirk Vater

Dr. Dirk Vater is the global head of our Financial Services practice. He is also part of our global Digital leadership team and is a senior member of our Sales & Marketing practice. 

Dirk has more than 30 years of management consulting experience, throughout which he has advised global clients on major transformation programs and strategy development, especially across retail banking, wealth management, SME and corporate banking. 

In the last decade, Dirk’s work has emphasized digitalization projects for global financial institutions. Most recently, he has developed and implemented digital agendas for banks around the globe. His most profound projects have also involved digital factory setup and redesigning customer journeys to mirror the development of disruptive new business models.

His chief engagements have included:

• Leading a digital transformation for a laggard retail bank, propelling it to become to one of the top-performing digital banks in EMEA;
• Supporting the cost transformation of a global bank by undertaking a €2.5 billion cost reduction;
• Successfully merging two retail banks by maintaining each brand and merging all back-office and central functions - "two restaurants, one kitchen."

Dirk previously led our EMEA Financial Services practice. Prior to joining us in 2004, he was a partner for another global consulting firm in Frankfurt.

He earned his Ph.D. in business administration from Chemnitz University of Technology, where his research centered on the activities of private equity companies in Germany. He also holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Mannheim.