What are the most significant cases or transactions you or your team have been involved in recently?

Undoubtedly, my most significant achievement has been leading the legal department of the largest bank in Bolivia for the last sixteen years.

I have had the opportunity to participate in two merger processes of Bolivian banks, one of which between the two largest banks in the country, at that time. More specifically, it was the merger between Banco Mercantil and Banco Santa Cruz.

Within my duties, in addition to being a banking law specialist, I have been able to extend my capabilities to other practice areas, such as commercial law, administrative and regulatory law, civil law and civil procedure. Deepening my knowledge in law, and maintaining myself permanently updated, was a necessity, as managing the legal department of such a large bank so requires.

I must also highlight the work carried out by my team, which has allowed me to carry out adequate planning to mitigate the legal risks to which the bank’s activities are exposed to.

What are your organisations plans over the next 12 months, and how does the legal team intend to assist with this?

It is evident that the supervision of legal activities in a financial institution depend on the randomness of the legal contingencies that arise in carrying out the bank’s business, which sometimes makes annual work planning more difficult. However, our accumulated experience allows us to plan our legal department’s actions, seeking to manage the legal risk that emerges from financial activities, in an institution that actively engages in multiple banking endeavours.

More recently, I have been devoted to academic activities, teaching law postgraduate courses at university. This has made me want to author a book on banking and commercial law, a plan which I hope to develop soon.

Lastly, I am developing a project for a banking and consulting firm, with the goal of offering its services so that legal advisory work of financial institutions can be outsourced, providing banks with solutions to reduce labour costs, without neglecting the management of their legal risks.