KPMG exits Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan as AI reshapes consulting

KPMG is pulling out of Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan, a move that lands hardest on the people who built careers inside those offices, not just on the firm’s map. In Bangladesh alone, KPMG says it has more than 440 people across Dhaka and Chattogram, turning the separation into a real staffing and career shock for auditors, consultants and support teams who now face an uncertain handoff.

The Bangladesh business has long been built through Rahman Rahman Huq and KPMG Advisory Services Limited. RRH was established in 1962 by Rezaur Rahman, M. Saifur Rahman and Tashfin I Huq, and KPMG became a member firm in Bangladesh on January 1, 2006, making it the first Big Four member firm in the country. Local reporting says KPMG’s Global Board has already approved the separation process, with completion expected by September 30. For staff, that kind of timeline usually means a compressed period of client transition, project reassignment and questions about who stays with the network and who is left outside it.

Egypt carries the same symbolism, but on a longer arc. KPMG Egypt says on its own website that the firm has been established in the Middle East for more than 50 years. The exit there, alongside Pakistan and Bangladesh, suggests that even long-standing market presence is no longer enough to protect an office if the economics no longer fit the global model.

That model is changing quickly. In March 2025, reporting said KPMG planned to cut the number of country units from more than 100 to as few as 32 by the end of 2026, part of a restructuring meant to improve audit quality, retention and growth. At the same time, KPMG has been leaning hard into artificial intelligence, with its global site describing AI as a way to enhance human expertise and keep human connections at the center. The firm has also announced a global alliance with Anthropic and launched a Digital Gateway powered by Claude.

That combination tells employees something blunt: in Big Four professional services, geography is becoming less of a guarantee and more of a variable. The work still has to be done, but the firms are increasingly deciding that it should be done in fewer places, with more technology and tighter economics. For staff in Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan, the exit is not just a corporate restructuring. It is a reminder that the new security inside global consulting now depends on scale, technology and pricing power as much as it does on tenure.