Big Four accounting firm KPMG's legal arm has hired Paula Gilardoni as a competition partner in Sydney from leading Australian firm Gilbert + Tobin.

Gilardoni focuses on competition law matters, including merger clearances and investigations in the banking, insurance, wealth management, payments, health, manufacturing and petroleum industries. She also advises on financial services regulatory matters, including licensing, disclosure, anti-money laundering, privacy and consumer protection issues.

Since 2017, she has been advising Australian wealth manager IOOF Holdings Ltd. on the regulatory matters in a $765 million acquisition of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.'s pensions and investments business. The deal's closing is currently delayed because of a 14-month public inquiry into Australia's financial services industry for unethical practices that ended in February and faces regulatory hurdles from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the country's regulator for financial services.