Growing Chinese investment in the UK is boosting the recruitment of Chinese nationals in PwC’s UK practice, according the firm’s global sourcing leader.

Charles Macleod told Recruiter that a reversal of the old flow of capital from advanced countries such as the UK to China meant that PwC was hiring more Chinese nationals with experience of working in China.

“Those who have worked in China have a knowledge of how Chinese organisations like to work and what is normal best practice, so that we can give them [Chinese organisations] the confidence that we know the background they are coming from. This will give the Chinese company confidence that we will understand their organisation,” said Macleod. He added that after training and working in the UK some of these staff will return to work in PwC’s China practice.

PwC was also tapping into a substantial pool of talent made up of Chinese nationals studying in the UK. “We are no longer looking for UK nationals as there are many Mandarin speakers already in the UK,” said Macleod.

An added bonus of hiring Chinese nationals was that it boosted Chinese firms’ confidence to invest in the UK, added Macleod.