What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

As publicly announced, Bancolombia is undertaking the spin-off of its digital bank, Nequi, with over 12 million customers. We are currently in the process of obtaining the required regulatory authorisations while structuring the future independent financial institution’s technical, operational and corporate governance structure. We recently obtained regulatory permissions in Colombia and the US for operating a registered investment adviser and a stockbroker in Miami. Bancolombia Capital is expected to begin operations in August.

What do you predict will be the biggest change in the legal market over the next few years?

Automatisation of day-to-day and commodity-like contracts, processes and transactions with decreased costs and risk and improved customer experience and pace. This is not to say that lawyers will have fewer job opportunities, as there will always be high demand for strategic, practical, business-oriented legal counsel. In the short-term, automatisation requires more work for lawyers, allowing additional time to do more intellectually oriented work.

Consumer protection rules, consumer trends and new technologies will accelerate the simplification of the legal jargon on contracts and legal procedures and reduce paperwork and unnecessary legal processes.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will an in-house lawyer need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Flexibility, resilience, and creativity. The ability to successfully adapt to uncertainty and anticipate changes in business, social, political and legal contexts. Trust-based and empowering leadership is crucial to attracting and retaining diverse talent with various priorities and preferences, which provides a suitable environment for optimal teamwork. This requires more trust and delegation, fluid teams and less rigid pyramid-like structures. Additionally, general understating of new technologies and proficient use of IT work tools will be fundamental.