Thought Leadership

This article first appeared in the IAB magazine in May 2026.

Starting with visibility: mapping corporate finance capability

A critical first step has been understanding where corporate finance capability exists already across the association.

PrimeGlobal has undertaken a structured mapping and engagement exercise, identifying firms with corporate finance expertise and updating its CRM to ensure data is cleansed, consistent, and accurately reflects each firm’s corporate finance service offering and the professionals who deliver it.

This includes clearly presenting areas of specialism, level of activity, and engagement within the community. As a result, this creates a much clearer view of capability across regions and allows the association to move beyond general connection towards more targeted collaboration - helping firms identify and connect with the right capabilities at the right time, while actively targeting greater engagement across the community.

PrimeGlobal has used this enhanced data to establish and expand dedicated Corporate Finance Communities of Practice across EMEA, North America, and Asia Pacific, forming active, engaged, groups with strong participation and regular interaction.

These are not passive forums. They are working communities, where firms actively share mandates and opportunities, discuss live market activity, and connect with relevant partners.

Leadership plays an important role. Experienced practitioners, including firms such as Quantuma, with Ian Barton, a senior corporate finance practitioner, leading the EMEA Corporate Finance group, help ensure discussions are grounded in real deal activity. The result is a community that reflects how corporate finance actually operates: fast-moving, collaborative, and opportunity-led.

We have also introduced specialist corporate finance sessions alongside our wider events to enable corporate finance professionals to connect directly. These sessions are designed not just to build relationships within the corporate finance community, but to strengthen collaboration across disciplines. For example, bringing corporate finance and tax professionals together to explore the practical collaboration required on M&A transactions - ensuring alignment across deal structuring, due diligence, and execution. This joined-up approach reflects how deals are delivered in practice and supports firms in building more integrated advisory capabilities.

Structuring opportunities: from informal sharing to clear processes

One of the most practical developments has been the introduction of structured tools to capture and share opportunities. PrimeGlobal has developed a digital Corporate Finance mandates questionnaire, allowing firms to submit live opportunities such as buy-side, sell-side, and capital raising mandates, alongside key deal parameters and the type of partner required. Alongside this, completed deals are captured to showcase capability and track activity across the community. This creates a consistent way of sharing opportunities, reducing reliance on informal communication and making it easier for firms to engage quickly and effectively.

Activating collaboration through platform and meetings

These tools are supported by both digital platform interaction and in-person engagement.

On the platform, firms actively discuss opportunities, respond to mandates, and share insights in dedicated corporate finance threads. This ensures visibility across the global community and enables real-time interaction.

In parallel, in-person meetings are designed around practical outcomes. A recent Corporate Finance session in Brussels brought together firms from multiple regions to present live mandates, discuss active opportunities, and identify cross-border collaboration. The session was also connected via Teams with leading firms in Asia Pacific and North America, enabling shared learning and exploring how they could engage in cross-border opportunities. The focus was not on updates, but on progressing real work - connecting firms directly and moving conversations forward.

A further development has been the creation of an online community group by firms for emerging professionals in corporate finance. This provides a space for the next generation to connect, share experiences, and learn from peers across markets—broadening their horizons, building networks, and encouraging innovation. This focus on the next generation is a key part of the strategy, helping to build capability for the future.

Strengthening capability through targeted recruitment

Alongside community development, PrimeGlobal has taken a deliberate approach to recruitment supported by enhanced data and a clearer articulation of its corporate finance value proposition, it is able to target firms more precisely. Rather than expanding broadly, it has focused on attracting firms with strong corporate finance capability, including specialist advisory firms, corporate finance-led groups, and firms actively generating deal flow. Importantly, it can also demonstrate an active community of firms ready to engage, collaborate, and deliver opportunities together. Existing members also play a key role, actively supporting recruitment by sharing their experience of collaboration and helping prospective firms see the value in practice.

Recent additions such as ROLEUP Inc in Japan, a specialist M&A advisory firm focused on mid-market transactions, alongside firms such as Redonis in Germany, bring both expertise and active deal flow into the association. This targeted approach has successfully attracted new firms, further strengthening the community and increasing the flow of opportunities and business across the association.

These firms are not only adding capability; they are actively contributing opportunities, strengthening cross-border collaboration and increasing the volume and quality of corporate finance activity across the community.

Combining opportunity and capability building

Importantly, the model supports firms at different stages. Established corporate finance firms bring expertise, leadership, and live mandates. Developing firms gain exposure, build relationships, and learn how to engage in transactions. This creates a pipeline of capability, aligned with the broader shift towards advisory services. It also reinforces the value of the association—not just as a connector, but as a platform for growth.

Firms also work together to win work. By combining capabilities and geographic coverage across trusted member firms, they can pursue proposals that would typically be beyond the reach of an individual firm, enabling them to compete more effectively with larger international firms. In practice, member firms collaborate with PrimeGlobal on proposal development, presenting a joined-up offer that demonstrates the collective strength of expertise, capacity, and international reach.

A clearer value proposition for corporate finance firms

Taken together, this approach creates a strong proposition for firms with corporate finance ambitions. PrimeGlobal offers access to a global pool of corporate finance specialists, visibility of real, structured opportunities, tools to share and respond to mandates efficiently, active facilitation of collaboration, and a community that combines deal activity with capability development.

For firms looking to grow in advisory, this is increasingly important.

Moving from connection to execution

PrimeGlobal’s Corporate Finance model reflects a broader shift in how associations can deliver targeted value and help firms build advisory capability for the future—demonstrating in practice how the strategy is being delivered and gaining traction. Rather than relying on connection alone, it combines data (mapping and CRM insight), structure (mandates and processes), community (active engagement across regions), and platform (enabling real-time collaboration). This moves the association from a passive connector to an active enabler of business activity.

As firms continue to prioritise advisory growth, this more practical, structured approach is likely to become increasingly relevant.

For corporate finance firms, collaboration only matters if it leads to opportunities—and increasingly, that is how associations will be judged. PrimeGlobal’s approach shows how this can be delivered in practice.