Head, Legal, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, East Africa | Standard Chartered Bank Kenya
Pat Nyokabi Mbugua
Head, Legal, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, East Africa | Standard Chartered Bank Kenya
What are the most significant cases and transactions or best practices that your legal team has recently been involved in?
We have adopted new ways of working, as a key disruptor and transformational enabler, and committed to this through several ways including non-hierarchical brainstorming sessions. I encouraged my team member, Chris Engola, to use his certification in the human-centered design approach, and put the knowledge acquired into practice by facilitating discussions within the team to co-create and agree on the pivotal role the legal function can play in achieving business objectives, which has seen us cement our reputation as being client-focussed, agile, proactive and commercial-minded with our business colleagues. This model was very well received by senior stakeholders and was a practical demonstration of progressive leadership and avoiding “group think” by encouraging diversity of thought and inclusivity and fostering an enabling environment for creativity and innovation. Additionally, we imported and implemented the flexi-working model on my return from a short-term assignment in Hong Kong, which saw the team quickly adapt to remote working at the onset of the pandemic in Kenya. Due to this working model being tried and tested already, a seamless transition and uninterrupted service delivery to stakeholders was ensured. Regular wellbeing check-in team calls were also initiated by my team member to promote cohesion and productivity while working remotely.
We contribute to the overall strategy and enhance our business acumen by actively participating in segment sales meetings and pan-bank leadership workstreams.
Are there any causes, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?
Inspired by my passion for people and community impact, I volunteer as a mentor. I am also a member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in-house counsel committee, where I am spearheading the inaugural LSK in-house counsel mentorship program.
Additionally, I have served as a Standard Chartered representative in the Advisory Committee of the Financial Resilience Economic Empowerment (FREE) Fund managed by Women Win to support sustainable economic ventures for adolescent girls and young women and was recently appointed as Global Diversity and Inclusion Council Secretary for 2024-2025. I sit on the Advisory Board of the African Corporate and Government Counsel Forum.
Outside my professional pursuits, I sing in the Twakutukuza Choir to help raise support for cancer patients, and also hold a certification as a mental health first aider with Mental Health First Aid England.
Pat Mbugua is the head, legal, client coverage, corporate commercial and institutional banking, East Africa at Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, where her team provides differentiated customer-oriented service.
With over 20 years’ post-qualification experience, including previous roles at East African Development Bank, Bank of Africa Kenya Limited and Walker Kontos Advocates, Pat has been recognised as a strategic business enabler and thought leader in the financial services industry. She represented Standard Chartered globally in the Institute of International Finance Future Leaders Class of 2021.
Pat has received several accolades including: Employee of the Year 2007 at Walker Kontos; the GC Powerlist Africa 2015, with her team at Standard Chartered recognised in the GC Powerlist Africa Teams 2018 by Legal 500; Distinguished In-House Counsel Service Award 2023 by the East Africa Law Society; Mentorship Excellence Award at the African Corporate and Government Counsel Forum’s Community Choice Awards 2023; In-house Practitioner of the Year as well as Runner Up Lawyer of the Year 2022 and Top 50 Women Lawyers 2024 by the Law Society of Kenya’s Nairobi Legal Awards Trust.