About

Katherine E.P. Balderrama Umalla, is the deputy legal manager of the La Boliviana Ciacruz de Seguros y Reaseguros, with more than 18 years of professional experience, and vast knowledge of the financial, insurance and conciliation areas. Katherine has a master’s degree in risk management with a minor in insurance from the Universidad Católica de Murcia, a master’s degree in corporate compliance from the Centro Europeo de Postgrado Ceupe, and a master’s in corporate and international business law from Gabriel Rene Moreno University. She also completed a senior management course in agreement from Sanfi Madrid, a diploma in insurance and reinsurance risk from Universidad del Valle, and a diploma in legal advice for financial entities from Utepsa, Cambridge International Negotiation Workshop. She has spent the last nine years working in the legal department of Boliviana Ciacruz, first as a legal advisor with responsibility of Santa Cruz, Trinidad, ensuring the review of legal status, constitution of guarantees for insurance policies, carrying out administrative processes to cancel the taxation of damaged vehicles, cancelling mixed liquidation processes that generated withholding of funds and a contingent.

On the other hand, Katherine has collaborated with the municipality of Cotoca, meeting with its Municipal Council in order to assist with the modification of its resolution which regulated the process of tax deregistration of vehicles, which did not consider that the tax-generating event that occurs with the possession of the property at the end of each fiscal year is what gives rise to the generation and collection of an annual tax. Therefore, as the vehicle was not in possession because it was stolen, it did not correspond to generate the municipal tax, which was not being considered by the municipality, and this is the legal basis that was able to sustain, support and achieve the modification of its low taxation regulations. In the same way, this legal basis and contribution was shared with the Mayor’s Office of Cochabamba, on which Municipal Decree N° 110/2018 was approved, which regulates the process of vehicle and other tax deregistration.

In her current position since 2016, she works as deputy legal manager with nationwide jurisdiction, developing strategies to avoid legal proceedings, she carries out conciliations and negotiations in cases where the insured want to file a lawsuit against the company. The criteria on which she carries out her work is based on the premise of risk and cost/benefit analysis. On the other hand she works together with the claims department, in all matters relating to claims, advising from the technical-legal side, also; she is in charge of the legal recoveries that come from the right of subrogation and she is in charge of the fraud tool of the company in order to ensure that the operations that they develop both with policyholders, employees, suppliers are as transparent and ethical as possible. Achieving significant savings for the company by detecting fraud attempts works in conjunction with the area of claims of La Boliviana.

The contribution and work she develops is under the premise “done is better than perfect”, since that is the basis on which the risk is managed. On a personal level, Katherine loves music very much, in her free time she usually goes to see plays, musicals, and enjoys travelling.

During the first decade of her professional practice, Katherine was part of the legal team of Banco Unión. Later she was legal advisor of Ecofuturo and within her experience in the financial sector she was also part of Banco Solidario, having served the latter as a litigation lawyer, responsible for the judicial processes, recovery, and collection in the extrajudicial and judicial manner.

Within her work experience, the cases that have had the greatest impact on her life is having taken charge of the representation of the company, having assumed the defence in criminal proceedings for armed robbery that occurred in the Robore Agency of Banco Union and the Charagua Agency of Ecofuturo. On the other hand, within the insurance area, she oversaw the conciliation and closing of the claims for the families affected by the crash of the aircraft FAB-663 K-8 KARAKORUM of the Bolivian Air Force “FAB” in the town of Sacaba – Cochabamba on March 24, 2021. She coordinated with the former Commander General of the Bolivian Air Force Gen. Div. AE Marcelo Juan Heredia Cuba, who expressed his gratitude for the collaboration, support, empathy, and closure. In her 18 years of professional practice, she has also been recognised by one of the most important companies in the Bolivia’s insurance sector, La Boliviana Ciacruz, having been awarded the “SOCIO MI BOLIVIANA”.