About

Grupo Supervielle is a national private capital financial group whose origins date back to 1887. The group is mainly focused on rendering banking and financial services targeted to both individuals and small and medium size companies, relying on a wide distribution network all across Argentina. Its general counsel Sergio Gabriel Gabai has been leading the legal department since August 2007. With over 20 years of in-house experience in the financial services industry, Gabai is praised for showing ‘the highest level of professionalism and dedication’ by his peers. As general counsel, he drew the division between back office and technical support to make legal work more efficient, in areas such as contracts and judicial requirements. He also implemented service agreements between companies under Grupo Supervielle to ensure the legal team delivers consistent legal advice across the group. During the last few years, Gabai and his team have contributed significantly on some major transactions. For example, the team led the acquisitions of MILA (a car lending company) and Invertironline (an online trading platform) in 2018, whilst in 2017 it assisted on the sale of Cordial Microfinanzas to Ciudad Microfinanzas. Gabai highlights the 2016 Grupo Supervielle IPO in particular, which ‘allowed me to develop the abilities to adapt our work to public offering requirements under the US and local laws’, he explains. The legal department has also been involved in litigations such as class actions and arbitrations at the MAE arbitration tribunal. Before joining Grupo Supervielle, Gabai worked at various financial institutions, including BBVA Banco Francés, BankBoston, Deutsche Bank, Inverfe and Banco Comercial de Tandil. While at Deutsche Bank, Gabai led the sale of retail business to BankBoston, which helped him understand the effects of globalisation on the labour market, and prepared him to adapt to frequent changes. During his early years at Banco Comercial de Tandil, Gabai accepted the challenge of moving to Tandil, a small city far away from Buenos Aires, and experienced the bankruptcy process of the Bank which he says allowed him to ‘face difficult situations and provide legal solutions’. Summing up his role as general counsel, Gabai comments: ‘It’s very important to find the balance between internal and external work with law firms. During this process you can show your ability to keep costs at acceptable levels’. He considers the ability to manage costs and internal structures to be good indicators of performance evaluation, in addition to the opinions of internal clients and external providers.