Team size: 17 

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?  

The electronic execution of documents has resulted in significant savings in cost and time. We transitioned to this innovation during the pandemic when stamp offices were closed, and most organisations were in remote work mode. 

At Citi, we in legal set up a process whereby documents could be signed digitally from any location, and still meet the requirements of evidence and enforceability. This obviated several requirements: Wet-ink signatures, printing in multiple sets, and positing different signed versions to each signatory. Once the pandemic ended, we shifted to a permanent solution across several of our enterprise verticals.  

The biggest gains from this innovation have been in our vendor and third-party service documents and our HR and employee documents, leading to savings in time, cost, and human resources.  

We are working on designing permanent solutions for our client documentation. These efforts are leading to a better onboarding experience for clients, vendors, and employees. The end-to-end process is quicker, less cumbersome, and cheaper. 

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

The most significant transaction in the last 12 months for Citigroup in India has been the sale of the consumer businesses. This is likely the most historic foreign bank M&A transaction in India, as it marked the divestiture of our 120-year-old retail bank. The sale transaction also included credit cards, wealth management and consumer loans, as well as the transfer of approximately 3,200 Citi employees. Citi’s institutional client businesses in India were excluded from the sale. The transaction resulted in a regulatory capital benefit of $1.4bn, signifying a key step forward in Citigroup’s global strategy refresh. 

The Citi legal team was at the heart of this landmark transaction: We played a lead role in structuring the deal, designing the buyer RFP and auction process, and negotiating the sale agreement with the buyer. The unique nature of this transaction was that the consumer business was not sold by way of a bank amalgamation or a scheme of arrangement, which usually makes the transfer process simpler, relatively speaking. This transaction entailed the contractual transfer of all assets, liabilities, and employee relationships. Citi legal coordinated amongst multiple internal and external teams (lawyers, accountants, auditors) to deliver the transfer of over a million of customer accounts; we novated hundreds of third party contracts, negotiated, stamped and transferred individually; we assigned our entire loan receivables book across nearly 20 different physical locations; delivered a series of successful corporate approvals; helped separate our trade union from the consumer bank and enabled the transition of 3200 colleagues. 

In addition, the Citi legal team has been at the forefront in rendering valuable services during the ongoing transitional service period (post-closure of the transaction) when the actual handover is being affected. 

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel, what would it be and why? 

The ability to anticipate problems, alert stakeholders and deliver proactive, commercially sound advice are invaluable skills for any in-house lawyer, regardless of seniority or organisation type, is crucial. Our internal clients rely on us to look around the corner and tackle issues on the front foot. Additionally, all of us in in-house roles are expected to manage risk; being ahead of the problem is better than the problem being ahead of us.