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

Throughout almost 25 years of work, in which we have had a presence in both private banking and development banking, the last year has been key to make up for the time spent in pause during the pandemic period.

The level of intensity in business has allowed the ordinary way of working, with the solemnities that were sometimes required, to be a little softer. Retaking business at a digital level, at levels in which the customer is not necessarily present, or those types of issues, while still taking care of the minimum compliance with legal requirements or internal policies, has unquestionably been a challenge that we have met and that all areas are moving forward, some faster than others.

It is indisputable the need for business to return to the rhythm it had in previous years, and this is being achieved. To regain confidence in the implementation of all the new processes and products made available to customers is and will continue to be the challenge that must always be our main concern.

In which ways have you attempted to bring the legal department closer to your business colleagues?

Within the institution, we believe that with the support of technology, which is increasingly available to everyone and has become an indispensable part of the business and its continuity, we have been able to develop new products that involve the use of new technologies. In addition, we have been able to develop applicable procedures for a good and adequate use of these technological tools.

The internal legal role of lawyers who are particularly dedicated to the exclusive advice on banking matters continues to demand to be more friendly with the other areas of the company. Also, the role has been particularly directed by situations that were more traditional: local credit operations, which were sometimes with a certain degree of complexity attending to the operation itself; passive operations that are offered to clients for basic needs, such as savings or similar; additional services that include attention to ordinary needs, such as safety deposit boxes, traditional fiduciary operations and others that were generally attended to in the Bank’s agencies or branches.

Advice is no longer necessarily based on the logic that only if the client signs the contract in his own handwriting does it prove that he has given his free and clear consent to the business, or that we must necessarily see the client in person to get to know him, or that the areas must necessarily be in person in order to advance in the business. We must think beyond, taking into account the real needs that go through biosecurity measures, and be creative in building the roads that will lead us to business: contracts with electronic signatures, the use of digital methods or videoconferencing for business, creation of electronic products that are used exclusively on digital platforms and no longer necessarily have the requirement to be presented in a bank agency, and this necessarily happens to start within the entity, bringing the advice as close as possible to the areas, even if the advisor is not in person at the meetings.