Team size: Three

What impact did Brexit have on the financial Industry in Ireland?

The impact of Brexit on the financial industry is, in the widest sense, mixed. In the short term, the uncertainty and change required to prepare business for Brexit consumed a large amount of resource –both time and money – and has had a similar effect on customers of banks. However, in the long-term Brexit will likely be of benefit to the Irish financial services as a whole as a large number of firms set up in Ireland to passport into the rest of the EEA which will create more jobs of a higher value and increase the need for associated services to support these firms. On the other hand, this also means that the ‘war for talent’ will also increase in the short term, as well as the need to enhance the associated services and infrastructure to support these new businesses setting up in Ireland.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

I think the in-house legal role has considerably changed in the last few years, a dynamic which has only been accelerated by the pandemic. While historically legal departments had a reactive role to provide technical legal advice and mitigate legal risk, the sheer volume of complexity and regulation being introduced recently requires in-house legal teams to work collaboratively across different departments or functions to help solve problems and provide strategic advice. The role of an in-house legal advisor has morphed into being a trusted legal business partner; someone people turn to not just for a technical legal memo, but also strategic legal advice based on deep knowledge and understanding of how that advice impacts the activity, values and goals of the business you advise.

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

The Innovation and Customer team within Bank of Ireland Group Legal Services advises on digital, innovation and data protection matters. Recently we have been heavily involved in advising on a range of digital transformation projects which have accelerated during the Covid pandemic such as the Group’s end-to-end customer journey transformation programme, which is delivering around €60m in annual savings, and the proposed Synch Payments mobile payment platform. We are also advising on issues arising from the acquisition of approximately €8.8bn of mortgage loans as well as €4.4bn of deposits from KBC Ireland.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Corporate legal teams will need to develop a range of skills so that is seen as a key contributor to the business’ key activities and goals whilst managing legal risk. With increased demands for enhanced productivity, efficiency improvements and cost savings it is important the corporate legal teams are seen as a strategic partner and not a cost centre.

This will require a range of new non legal skills in areas of project management, presentation skills, agile work practices together with a willingness to embrace change.