How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
A Key success factor is for the General Counsel and Compliance Officer to be involved in key strategic business imperatives, to ensure that proactive and appropriate guidance is provided to the business to identify any potential legal and regulatory risks. Stakeholder engagement is critical to understand the business needs and concerns and to develop the legal and compliance strategy to be aligned with the overall business strategy and to ensure that appropriate risk management can be applied. Included in any successful governance (legal and compliance) strategy is where provision is made for the necessary oversight structures, which provides direction for the legal and compliance strategy to be successfully executed. Part of this strategy is continuously identifying areas for improvements to remain aligned with the overall company strategy.
What are the main cases or transactions you have been involved in recently?
I was fortunate to be part of the Due Diligence teams in several Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) transactions, providing guidance and support on the M&A Due Diligence’s performed, including the integration and execution plan for the merger between the companies into the Group. The two transactions included the acquisition of another Life insurer and also a Life micro-insurer. The one transaction was an acquisition of R1.9 billion which resulted in a combined embedded value of about R7.8 billion for the Group.
What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with South Africa’s data protection laws?
With any type of digital strategy and transformation data mapping, risk assessment, management and monitoring must be conducted to identify potential data breaches and to develop strategies to mitigate those risks posed. As the financial services sector becomes increasingly digital, cybersecurity threats is a global risk, with institutions investing heavily in security measures to protect customer data and prevent fraud. Appropriate security measures must be in place to protect personal information in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act, and whilst executing on the digital strategy cognisance must be taken of international data privacy laws. The data governance framework must include the technology implementation plan, which caters for security measures, third party supplier contract management, incident response and monitoring plans. With the growing focus on increasing financial inclusion through innovative products and services, through Fintech/Insurtech, the legal and compliance functions are critical to support the company digital strategy.
How do you manage and motivate your legal team to ensure high performance and professional growth?
There is no silver bullet in managing and motivating your legal and compliance team. A combination of effective leadership includes, clear communication, a supportive work environment, where everyone in the team has a voice, and where all the team members know their value and contribution toward the legal and compliance strategy, which supports the overall Company strategy. Fostering a positive work environment is critical, and it can be tricky in a pressurised environment with many regulatory deadlines. The key is to recognise the contributions by all team members, empowering your team with skills, knowledge and decision making power and ultimately strive to lead by example with work ethic, professionalism and integrity. By not taking yourself to serious and having a good sense of humour, is a valuable asset. By implementing these strategies, you can create a motivated and high-performing team.