About

Following Citi’s 2016 divestiture and consumer business sale, the bank’s stellar legal function in Central America has implemented leaner and more efficient processes in order to serve internal and external clients in a more expedite way. For Central America, there are six general counsels who report to Esteban Mancuso, deputy general counsel and managing director and are based in their respective countries. Amongst these standout general counsel are: Cristina Alfaro from Costa Rica, Nicole Cedeño from Dominican Republic, Marcela Bernal from El Salvador, Karin Herman from Guatemala, Lynet Kawas from Honduras and Julio Arjona from Panama. These key individuals oversee all aspects of franchise risk, local and cross-border transactions, litigation and corporate governance matters, advising Citi’s country officers and product heads on new products and transactions, and other global functions on legal matters. In addition, they handle the bank’s relationship with local banking regulators. The legal team has a strong governance structure using periodic strategy meetings to discuss high priority issues and propose guidelines to address them with a committee formed of the most senior lawyers in each country. Once agreed, the guidelines are distributed to the rest of the legal departments in the region in order to achieve corporate consistency in dealing with sensitive issues from country to country. Each of the country lawyers participate in the most senior management forums for the country, working closely with the country general manager and have responsibility for acting as gate keepers of the corporate activities in that country. The El Salvadorian team participated actively in the sale of over 10 legal vehicles and coordinated the due diligence and closing process with the buyer. As Citi subsequently reopened its El Salvador operation, retaining its ICG (Institutional Clients Group) business, the team played an influential role in key negotiations, regulatory filings and the authorisation process. In the regional office, Esteban Mancuso, deputy general counsel and managing director, oversees Central America and the Caribbean.