Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved the way your legal team works and didn’t come at a huge cost?  

To maintain our business competitive advantage and, at the same time, balance increasing complexity and volumes of demand and supply of legal resources, we have scanned all our legal processes and identified opportunities to drop activities, decrease inflow and optimise workflows. We ultimately got 30 legal processes mapped and ranked upon business and risk impact, full FTE self-measurement/legal processes and 75 efficiency ideas produced to reduce backlog and match staffing to demand.  

We have been able to support local ambitious growth plans while maintaining our local legal risk appetite, which translates into being in control and developing excellent expertise in the new areas of law growing. 

What are some of the key developments (legal, geopolitical or otherwise) that have affected your business over the last year?    

The context of persistent geopolitical tensions and high inflation-interest mix raised many challenges; however, Romania’s economy and banking sector have successfully coped with this new set of economic circumstances. Many lessons have been learned from the past, which helped us adapt faster.  We have experienced the pandemic, the effects of the war in Ukraine, inflation and the potential adverse effects of the bankruptcies of several regional banks in the US and we have demonstrated the capacity of the banking system to operate in an environment marked by numerous uncertainties and extraordinary dynamics. 

How do you think the in-house legal role will evolve in the coming years? , 

In-house legal teams in banking will need to be agile, tech-savvy, and strategic partners to business in navigating increasingly dynamic environments. Evolving regulatory complexity and scrutiny will demand a proactive approach to compliance and ethics. Cybersecurity and data protection will be paramount and sustainability and ESG considerations will be integrated into legal strategies, to prioritise responsible business practices and safeguard corporate reputation.    

Do you use any “legal technology” products and, if so, what areas of your work do you find it most useful for?  

We use a RegTech solution in the regulatory change management area. It is a tool designed for horizon scanning, regulatory consultation and policy creation. We also use software that automatically generates draft contracts (such as credit), based on filling in highly structured questionnaires or natural language processing software that is used for specific searches in bulky packages of documents / data and fast provision of answers (based on machine learning). 

We are in the process of acquiring a license for a file management software that will help us planning and managing litigation-related activities more efficiently and to establish an advanced reporting system to facilitate the best decisions.