About

Citibank in Portugal has been established for over 33 years, hosting corporate and investment banking, a markets business and Sagres, a special purpose entity that undertakes securitisation transactions, in particular the acquisition, management and disposal of receivables as well as the issuance of securitised notes. The legal department is composed of two people, one exclusively dedicated to customers’ on-boarding documentation. The legal team is led by country legal counsel, senior vice president, Isabel Charraz who has amassed 16 years of experience at Citibank and has assumed a local leading role in all the organisation strategic decisions involving key projects. Over the years, the legal team has fostered a deep involvement of the legal department with the local business areas through the “know my business” initiative, ensuring a strong knowledge of the operational part of the banking and financial products offered in the country. This has led to a more robust legal expertise on these specific products. Furthermore, it has enabled the legal team to identify potential legal risks, keeping abreast of legal and regulatory developments which impact the group’s business with a view to ensuring that the group’s compliance policies and procedures are continually up-to-date. Charraz explains that the legal team aims to: ‘Work as a partner, engage key stakeholders, focus on understanding business needs and expectations, be pragmatic and always stay in tune in any legal and regulatory development. We provide a clear and consistent line of sight to all team members regarding the most critical work activities. This is a key component for an in-house counsel and a constant challenge in a country with a small team but always on top of the most effective countries for implementation projects’. One of the biggest challenges faced at Citi is the lean size of the local team which support the branch locally, at the businesses and global functions level of HR, operations, financial control and regional matters which involve strong Portuguese legal and local market knowledge. ‘This is a senior management role with multi-jurisdictional challenges, tight deadlines, strong pressure to align regional expectations with local regulatory requirements which sometimes are a show stopper’, says Charraz. The legal team has stayed abreast by managing expectations, being pragmatic, and hands-on to support the franchise in an effective way.