EY will make sweeping changes to its global structure to cut costs and address stagnant growth, slashing the number of regional divisions and ending the independence of its financial services arm.

Under the restructure, EY will end three overarching geographic groupings and merge 18 regional structures into 10 so-called super regions. The financial services division will also lose its global independence and be folded into the new regions, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans who were not authorised to speak about internal firm operations.