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

As legal counsel, I would like to highlight that during this year we have taken important steps for digitalisation in our company. In addition to internal activities such as our financial affairs processes, we have also started to carry out digital projects to increase the customer experience. In addition to the difficulties of the regulatory uncertainty regarding digitalization, the need of providing guidance to departments required us to take a more  proactive role in these projects.  

We have also organised periodic trainings within our company to spread the regulatory compliance culture. In addition, we have prepared and presented short information notes such as newsletters to the relevant departments. 

In order to ensure business continuity, procedures and business models-work flows have been presented to senior management emphasising the “tone at the top” principle.  

In addition we have received the support of the senior management by establishing teams to improve the processes in the main areas of finance, marketing, information technologies, personal data protection, competition/anti-trust, contract management, insurance, litigation and regulatory compliance in our company. 

Finally, I would like to express that I am pleased to have provided legal support for the execution of various treasury transactions, especially the bond issuance process carried out by our company and the submission of the necessary information and documents to the regulatory authorities of the financial sector.   

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? 

This year, we have reorganised the roles and responsibilities of all departments regarding the processes of reviewing and negotiating contracts enabling them to contribute more effectively. With this approach we have aimed at ensuring integrity in our applications by collecting relevant sectoral, financial and legal perspectives. As a consequence, the departments of our company also interiorise the obligation of regulatory compliance and the implementation of processes became more efficient.  

Moreover, we have created business-based templates by classifying-categorising the existing archives within our department and we had the opportunity to analyze how our workflows have progressed from the past to the present in the light of changing legislation.  

It is also worth mentioning that we digitalised our legal archive regarding application forms and official responses from legal authorities. This archive model helped our team to follow to-do lists efficiently and also supported our company’s environmental, social and corporate governance strategy.  

In addition, we reviewed our existing agreements. By this way, we created standard service level periods and terms for the services that we receive in various areas. Thus, we have made the monitoring and evaluation of these standards by business units more functional. 

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why? 

One of the causes I care the most about is legal sustainability. In my opinion, ensuring legal sustainability supports legal flexibility  - contrary to a rigid and obstructive perception of the legal function – and also enables multiple alternatives.

Preparation of regulatory prescriptions in the management of all relationships with business partners, suppliers and customers is the basis of legal sustainability. Although the regulatory requirements vary according to the needs of the various fields of business, it is crucial that the decision-making mechanism can operate effectively and that the revisions to be made always support the business units. This approach provides the opportunity to easily update and implement processes/work flows when it is necessary, to design legal documentation not only as-it is, but also by foreseeing future legislation changes.

Second trigger for my hard work and devotion is creating an active and harmonised work environment. For this purpose, I encourage my teammates to maintain legal sustainability all the time.