Team size: 70  

First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently? 

As the legal and regulatory team of the largest and most important private bank in the country, with a network of more than two hundred offices and more than eight thousand collaborators. 

My team is grouped into three divisions. The legal and regulatory compliance division, whose main objective is to ensure legal and regulatory compliance of the institution, as well as to act as a link between the bank and market regulatory entities, mainly the Central Bank and the Superintendencies of Banks and Securities respectively. 

The legal division that manages the operational legal aspects of the Bank, for this purpose, institutional contracts are worked on with both clients and suppliers, the proper formalization of movable and real estate guarantees is managed, it is processed and liaises with the external offices that manage the lawsuits filed against the Bank before the country’s courts, as well as customer claims before the User Protection Department of the Superintendency of Banks, seizures and oppositions to payment are processed, received to the detriment of customers and finally they support the more than two hundred offices that the Bank has nationwide, in the review of legal documentation that clients present for their transactions, as well as legal consultations related to the Banking business.

Finally, the ethical compliance division oversees ensuring that Bank employees comply with the provisions of the institution’s Code of Ethics. To this end, proactive and reactive analyses of employee behaviour are carried out. In the case of reactive analyses, there are channels for receiving anonymous complaints from any person who identifies conduct contrary to the ethical guidelines drawn up by the institution. 

How do you stay up-to-date with changes in laws and regulations in the Dominican Republic relevant to your organisation’s industry? 

Through legislative follow-up and monitoring of the activities of the National Congress, the sectoral regulatory bodies, mainly the monetary board, the Central Bank and the Superintendency of Banks, as well as through active participation in business associations such as the Association of Commercial Banks, the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce and Production and the FINJUS Foundation. 

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why? 

The banking business is a business that remains in a constant state of change, as clients increasingly demand more efficient and expeditious services, as well as the use of the latest available technologies. However, regulations sometimes do not evolve as quickly as banking market practices do, generating regulatory gaps and risks that require a dose of creativity to be adequately mitigated.