How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

In periods of instability, it is necessary to make swift decisions in changing environments, which is why empowerment is part of our strategy. This has allowed us to involve a greater number of “decision-makers” who enable us to provide constant support and quick responses to the business areas. Likewise, we maintain continuous feedback with these “young leaders” to identify strategies and decisions that have had a positive impact and to consider alternative directions for those that can be improved.

Similarly, during periods of crisis, the Peruvian Government issues a large number of new regulations, some of which change the applicable legal framework up to that point. From the legal department, in addition to regulatory compliance, we have identified the lawyers responsible for becoming “experts” in these regulatory changes. They are responsible for understanding the scope of such changes as soon as possible, assessing how these regulations would impact the bank or the sectors in which our main clients operate, and providing training to the business areas.

The legal department is one of the most important allies of the business areas, providing solutions and contributing expert knowledge that we transfer in the simplest possible way. Additionally, we assess the risks to which a business or market sector may be subject. Something important to highlight in our strategy is that we look for our lawyers not only to act as “in-house” lawyers but also to have the skills necessary to directly engage with clients. This allows them to form a commercial and legal team that gathers all the necessary knowledge to provide comprehensive solutions to our clients.

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

We have implemented a portfolio segmentation system that allows us to identify sectors of interest in which we are willing to increase exposure and offer additional benefits, such as reducing rates or providing more flexible guarantee schemes. Additionally, we identify sectors in which we want to reduce our exposure until eliminating it. BanBif has a special interest in participating in sectors linked to the construction of green buildings, Climate Smart Agribusiness, energy efficiency projects, among others.

Regarding these latter sectors, we have designed a rewards system. If the client has demonstrated compliance with certain environmental certifications in their project, we can reduce their applicable interest rate or even refund part of the interest paid during the loan. Likewise, in the segment of green buildings, benefits are also granted to the buyers of such homes, who have access to loans with better conditions.

From the legal department, we design the legal strategy and internal regulatory framework that enables the implementation of the aforementioned actions. Additionally, we provide training to business areas on the importance of maintaining a sustainable loan portfolio and how this translates into the bank’s good reputation and profitability.