About

Malte Bannenberg started his career as an associate in a small boutique law firm, before becoming part of the in-house team of a securitisation company eventually taking over from the previous head of legal, referred to by Bannenberg as ‘one of the “godfathers” of securitisation in Germany’ to lead the in-house team. In his role, he has led the bank through the financial crisis and its purchase of Gallinat-Bank. After leaving the bank in 2013 for an opportunity advising a renewable energy group to acquire, as he says, ‘experience in the business world outside the banking world’, he returned to NIBC Bank Deutschland in 2015 and has served in the role of head of legal since. During his tenure, Bannenberg has ensured that the perception of the legal department changed in his words, ‘from a department which had to be involved because of policies or to get the necessary sign-offs, but was sometimes seen as bothersome, to a department which is perceived as a go to place, which provides help and support for other departments and business units to achieve their targets and solve problems’. He highlights that, ‘this was mainly done by improving the communication and the understanding between the other departments and the legal department, for instance by having a member of the legal department regularly join team meetings in other departments, offering in-house trainings and taking the time and effort to explain legal frameworks and possibilities, which serve what is economically wanted in a legally fine way’. Bannenberg established clear roles and contacts for other departments and business units were assigned which he identifies generates ‘a higher level of trust and understanding’. This has not only changed the perception of the legal department, but also led to a different style of involvement of the legal department in the entire company and the working atmosphere in the legal department. His work has ensured that the legal department is now involved at a much earlier stage, as he says, ‘to make sure that possible legal issues in a transaction or project are taken into account right from the beginning and do not lead to problems in later or critical stages’. In the last three years, Bannenberg identifies that two transactions that stood out for him out of the more or less regular corporate and syndicated loans, structured and leveraged finance transactions and M&A deals were the IPO of NIBC Holding and the acquisition of HSH Nordbank by a consortium led by J.C. Flowers and Cerberus Capital Management. About the future of the industry he says that, ‘as in almost any area these days you have to show that you can keep up with the latest developments and possibilities new technologies can give your organisation. So in my view in-house lawyers will become managers even more, who oversee and control processes and workflows, as well as the involvement of external counsel and the usage of new technology’.