Team size: 27

Which recent political, economic, or regulatory changes have impacted the company and the team the most?

Undoubtedly, the Russia-Ukraina war has had an impact on our company and the legal team. To implement restrictions, we liaised with compliance and other divisions of the bank to assess the impact. As a member of the crisis committee, I monitored the development of the crisis team during the challenging time. The Benchmark Regulation effectively abolished the use of LIBOR as a reference rate. The legal team, therefore, had to spend considerable time and effort to amend relevant documentation to reflect the alternative rates agreed by the management. In 2021, unfair contract terms and practices were consolidated under one umbrella legislation, including several new provisions. We had to re-assess and amend our documentation and circulars to reflect the legislative amendments. In addition, given the instruction by the group for de-risking and digitalisation, the Legal team has played an important part in providing legal advice and guidance.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

In-house legal department needs to be appropriately geared with the automated legal processes to reduce the external legal cost. The recent trend is to spend less and to have more work done in-house.

In a changing financial landscape, how does the company remain competitive against new phenomena such as fintech and blockchain, and how does the legal team assist with this?

There are dedicated departments monitoring technology development to ensure that the company remains up to date with the necessary trend and information. Legal team provides legal advice and guidance for new technology products for the company.