Team size: 19

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

At the end of 2021, Crelan took over AXA Bank. As a result, the past year was focused on integrating two legal teams and supporting the integration of two banks. With the privilege of having lots of expertise on both sides, it became an exercise of transforming two great teams into one even greater team. It also involved taking time to consider the effect of such a fundamental transformation on everyone in the team. While important steps have already been taken, there is still much to be done.

Do you have an example of a time when you have come up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works that did not result in a large expense?

Innovation often involves recombining existing ingredients. We did not focus on digitising or automating processes or introducing Artificial Intelligence. Instead, we thoroughly compared processes used by both legal teams within the respective institutions and are gradually building a model with the best parts of both sides, enhancing certain elements along the way. Sharing the different experiences on both sides is enriching and allows us to cooperate more with our internal clients.

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

The financial sector is complex in terms of activities and regulatory environment – both of which are constantly and rapidly evolving. An in-house lawyer must be able to understand business needs and provide actionable advice to enable business activities to thrive and ensure compliance with the strict framework. The in-house lawyer must identify legal risks and partner with internal clients to mitigate these risks by explaining them and collaborating to determine the most appropriate solutions.