Team size:   15

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense? 

In the course of automating the bank’s loan origination process, I undertook the drafting of the bank’s Consolidated Facility Agreement, which entailed merging 42 of the bank’s most used facility agreements into one master document; organising all paragraphs in sections according to their content; updating all existing terms according to applicable legislation; and simplifying the overall wording and structure, to be more client-friendly and easy to understand. The final Consolidated Agreement was signed off by the bank’s external legal advisors. As it was produced internally, such innovation resulted in significant cost savings. 

Most day-to-day tasks are handled in-house. This has increased even more during the last year, while the number of personnel reduced from 19 to 15, following the bank’s re-organisation. Hence, our department undertook a major restructuring, reducing the number of our teams to keep delivering results in the most efficient way possible.  

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

During the last year, our department has provided legal support in a wide range of topics across the bank’s units and operations; we advised on a number of high-profile financings by business and corporate teams including government concession financings, syndicated lending and large re-financings taken over from other financial institutions. We were also in close cooperation with the Ship Finance Unit for the legal review and negotiation of relevant documentation in relation to several new ship financing transactions.  

Our department also provided support on corporate transactions. This involved advising on and negotiating documents for several of the bank’s transactions, including the completion of ‘Project Starlight’ for the sale of control of APS Debt Servicing Cyprus and NPL disposals.  

We were involved in drafting, reviewing documents, and providing overall legal support on ‘Project Sunrise’ for the acquisition of a portfolio from RCB Bank under extreme pressure – given the urgent withdrawal of banking license from the CBC – and co-ordinating with external lawyers for the timely delivery of the required due diligence of the facilities to be acquired. The team also had a role in advising on the issuance of a Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) by the bank in collaboration with external legal advisors.  

We provided specialised and ad-hoc advice to the compliance department on the Ukraine-related sanctions and close coordinated with the bank’s Sanctions’ experts to provide holistic legal support. 

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this? 

We operate in a highly regulated and competitive environment, where both quality and time are of essence. In addition to a high level of legal expertise, our external lawyers are expected to be able to provide detailed legal analysis, suggestions and solutions on complicated banking and legal matters in a timely manner and in accordance with the bank’s principles, policies, and procedures. Therefore, we view external lawyers as partners to our business rather than mere service providers, while their abiding by the bank’s standards means proactive communication, responsiveness, accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and updates on legal and regulatory developments relevant to the organisation. In parallel with the in-depth legal knowledge, our external advisors need to share a client-centric mindset, enabling in-house legal department and other internal departments to make well informed decisions and effectively manage legal risks.