About

Roberto Petriello began his career in private practice in Milan in 1997 and, after three years, he moved to NCTM and then to KPMG, in the banking and finance department. In 2005 he moved in-house to Archon Group (Goldman Sachs Group) as head of the legal and corporate department. Then in 2007 he moved to Gallerie Commerciali Italia, also as head of legal and corporate department. Gallerie Commerciali, at that time, was a joint venture between the Auchan Group and the Simon Property Group. In 2011 he moved to FCA Bank (at that time FGA Capital) as head of legal, where has been present ever since. Upon joining the Bank, Petriello had the opportunity to create a new legal department, which is currently thriving in 18 countries across Europe, and he currently oversees all of these departments and external counsel. In particular, he supervises and coordinates of subsidiaries’ activities from a legal point of view, and monitors cross border and local transactions such as cooperation agreements with partners, securitisations, bonds issues, loans, M&A, the creation of joint ventures, creation and implementation of operational structures aimed at offering financial and cross-border banking products. He is also involved in the drafting and negotiation of contracts related to the Bank’s activities, such as outsourcing contracts, factoring, facility agreements, guarantees, insurance contracts, IT contracts and more. Petriello is also active in the strategic direction of the company, having been appointed as a member and corporate secretary of several subsidiaries’ board of directors. He also holds a position on the supervisory body of the Bank responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable financial regulations and corporate administrative responsibility law, such as legislative decree 231/2001. In terms of transactions, Petriello has been involved in numerous examples of the bank’s biggest moments. In particular, the partnership agreement between the Bank and Ferrari in 2015 regarding the provision of financial services in Europe, the acquisition by FCA Bank of the majority stake in Ferrari Financial Services in 2016 and the renewal of the partnership between FCA Bank and Jaguar Land Rover in 2018 regarding the provision of financial services in eight European countries. Petriello highlighted his relationship with the CEO as being vital in his success as an in-house leader, and explains that by reporting to the CEO, he has ‘learnt how a truly business oriented professional should act. This is crucial for the success of a lawyer in-house. Then, participating in the negotiation of many deals, I have improved and consolidated my negotiation skills. Last but not least, I think I have always been able to gain the full trust of my colleagues’.