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

There have been numerous significant matters, both transactional and dispute-related over the last several years. One seminal transaction on which we have been actively engaged, which is currently ongoing is Citi’s sale of the consumer, small business and middle-market banking operations of Citibanamex, as part of its strategic refresh and transformation. This unit accounted for US$3.5bn of revenue in the first nine months of 2021, about 6% of Citigroup’s total revenue. The transaction is important not just to Citi’s history and future, but it is systemically important within the Mexican banking industry. The sale will be subject to various conditions and approvals, including applicable regulatory approvals in both the U.S. and Mexico.

Moreover, a multi-jurisdictional transaction that required the guidance of several of our local teams, was Nubank’s IPO in 2021. Citi was one of the global underwriters, raising US$2.6bn. It was also an underwriter on Nubanks’s BDR concurrent offering in Brazil. Nu Holdings is one of the largest digital banks in the world. With millions of customers across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, such countries were active on its market debut in New York and Brazil, and our team worked on the financing of Nubank’s subsidiaries in Mexico and Colombia.

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?

Extremely. Our external counsel are an extended part of our legal team and our expectation of them has increased. We expect them to understand what matters to us. I look to hire attorneys who appreciate that their role is not to just close a deal but consider the challenges we have as a firm and franchise issues. Their role is not to simply advise on the text of the law but guide us on its spirit, to ensure we do what is right and not just what is legal through the region. Our success is in partly function of how we work with external counsel. One of Citi’s leadership principles is to succeed together, and we look for professionals who will take care of us. and of our reputation, as if they were part of our internal team.