About

María Mercedes Olano heads the legal function at the Buenos Aires branch of Japanese financial institution The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, where she takes a proactive approach in achieving optimal business development in a legally and regulatory compliant way. Reporting to the general counsel in New York and the bank’s head office in Tokyo, she is charged with providing comprehensive legal support for all activities related to the Argentinian branch of the bank. She has recently been tackling particularly challenging issues relating to the analysis of international regulations – the bank is subject to several of these including FCPA, UK Bribery Act and FATCA regulations. More locally, she is the key contact within the company for matters including the filing of relevant documents before Argentinian financial authorities and the selection and maintenance of external law firm panels. She has an excellent track record of providing legal services to banks including four years in-house at Banco Columbia, and six years practicing at the law firm Gonzalez & Ferraro Mila. Building her skills in these roles, she dealt with several aspects of corporate law and M&A whilst amassing a wealth of knowledge in conducting due diligence and presiding over numerous agreements and contracts at the firm. Admitted to both the Buenos Aires Bar Association and the Buenos Aires Banking Bar Association, she is notable for being active outside her corporate legal roles, having obtained postgraduate qualifications in finance and banking law and corporate economic law from Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina Santa María de los Buenos Aires.