What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Banco Santander Totta is one of the prominent banking institutions in Portugal and, therefore, is regularly involved in significant cases and operations. It is important to emphasise that, due to the quality of its corporate and investment banking team and the international scope of the Santander Group, the bank has been a financial partner in the majority of internationalisation operations and investments abroad by Portuguese companies.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

The banking industry is a highly traditional business, but today it faces significant challenges in digital transformation, which impact its value creation process and business model. In this context, the role of the in-house lawyer is to act as a business enabler and a facilitator of transformation, focusing on leveraging new technologies and solutions to deliver more with less, while always prioritising the needs of customers. Adapting to regulatory volatility and complying with legal and regulatory demands is the basic assumption, but an in-house lawyer truly adds value when capable of challenging the organisation’s value creation model, seeking new solutions, and driving transformation. This requires curiosity, humility, customer-centricity, and a strong willingness to collaborate with different, multidisciplinary teams. Technology is democratising knowledge, and soft skills are increasingly important for in-house lawyers.

How have you fostered a closer collaboration between the legal department and your business counterparts?

The most important driver is the in-house lawyer’s mindset. It is necessary to combat the idea that the in-house lawyer is an oracle in an ivory tower. In-house lawyers must work directly with teams, acting as project enablers and problem solvers. They must be given autonomy and empowerment to address every issue and problem as their own, to speak up whenever necessary, regardless of who they are talking to. And there must be accountability; each in-house lawyer must feel the importance and responsibility of their role within the organisation. We strive to create this environment and cultivate this mindset for our in-house lawyers. A team with this mentality will naturally and constructively collaborate with the business areas, leveraging the transformation process and addressing the challenges that regulation and technology currently present to organisations like ours.

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

I do not view myself as someone who typically aligns with causes, but if I had to point out something worth treasuring, it would be individual freedom. I observe with great concern the significant setbacks that individual freedoms have suffered in recent years. This is evident not only on a geopolitical level, with the emergence and normalisation of radicalised governments and movements but also in an increasingly standardised culture dictating what is “right” to think and say.

Individual freedom, at a political, social, and economic level and all that it entails in terms of cooperation and competition, has served as the great engine of human development. It is a cause that, now more than ever, needs to be embraced.