What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

The legal counsel’s roles and responsibilities increase in line with the business needs and bank’s strategies. Furthermore, as Citibank is a global bank, the global regulatory developments also impact legal team’s role within the bank. In the past year, a vast number of new regulation and regulation changes have increased the legal team’s the workload. Demands of the business units, and on in-house legal teams, increases constantly and therefore we must continually adapt and develop to ensure that we meet those demands. Additionally, changes in various new regulations both in Türkiye and worldwide have tremendously impacted our work.

In your opinion, what areas should in-house lawyers focus on over the next few years to prove value to their organisations in Türkiye?

Legal counsel are no longer expected to advise only on legal matters; legal counsel are expected to guide the senior management in commercial decisions. In this context, it is important that they express their opinions openly. Today, especially as bank lawyers, we are expected to evaluate the effects of the new regulations on the bank and to take a role in determining the actions to be taken. Also, we work closely with the CEO and the other control functions, as appropriate, to develop and maintain healthy and transparent working relationships and facilitate a robust, ongoing and productive dialogue with local regulatory authorities.

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

We add value to our business by building a trustable, transparent and cooperative relationship with the business. One of our achievements is being a reliable partner to the business and making the legal department an easily reachable control function. As long as the bank carries out its activities safely, we consider ourselves valuable to our business.