About

Since 2004, Karina Castillo has developed the legal department at Scotiabank in the Dominican Republic from scratch, and eventually established a function of 12 people to provide services to a network of 62 bank branches across the country. Since 2013 Castillo has also been in charge of the regional compliance function and heads a further team of 16 employees. In her role as director of the legal department, Castillo has contributed significantly to the growth strategy of Scotiabank through her work on various acquisitions in the Dominican Republic, actively participating in the due diligence process as well as providing support in the process integration and growth of such acquisitions. Over the past few years, Castillo has been developing Scotiabank’s compliance structure in the Dominican Republic: ‘We have developed a structure that is in line with the new challenges of both local regulatory requirements in the Dominican Republic and internationally’, she says. ‘We have contributed to strengthening the culture of compliance and prevention of money laundering and anti-terrorism within our organisation and have raised awareness of the importance of managing the risk of regulatory non-compliance’. In 2014, Castillo’s efforts saw her department being awarded with an internal award for “Department of the Year”.