About

The highly praised Çiğdem Dayan, ING Bank’s chief legal counsel, has impressed peers and clients alike with her navigation of major deals. A highly experienced lawyer within the banking sector, Dayan commenced her in-house career at Yapı ve Kredi Bankası, where she held senior positions such as vice president and senior vice president of the legal department. In 2006 she moved to Oyak Bank as chief legal counsel. One year later the bank was purchased by ING Bank NV and Dayan assumed the role of the chief legal counsel in ING Bank. Currently she leads a strong team of 18 lawyers and nine paralegals. ‘We encouraged each other to be transparent in our team and most importantly to share knowledge with each other. We always emphasised the importance of team work and eventually we created a team which focuses on “us” rather than “I”. We made brain-storming sessions and exchanged opinions in each important case, which provided us with the working organisation to reach the best outcome’ she says. Throughout her in-house career, Dayan has faced unique legal challenges. ‘In 2003-2004 I drafted an agreement for a loan restructuring project I was leading and a copy of this agreement was requested by the World Bank because it was an interesting, unique project that had not been enforced before. The agreement was designed to benefit both parties of the deal’ she says.