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

As we have transformed our legal service model and introduced a new role, i.e., the legal business partnership, we seize the opportunity to work closer with business functions and get involved in their strategic projects from the beginning. We simply call it “legitimate by design”. Thus, in addition to projects like the renewal of our critical long-term contracts, M&As, and documentation revisions where the legal team is the core actor, we also contribute to projects that reflect our company’s ambitions, flagship cross-functional initiatives where we play an enabling role.

Correspondingly, data privacy and antitrust regulations have been evergreen topics that we emphasise with the aim of full compliance and a zero-tolerance approach. These, for sure, cannot be possible without the full buy-in and support of all functions across the board. So, awareness and consultancy activities have been keeping us busy as our core mission.

What strategic priorities are guiding you and your team in 2024?

As the general counsel, I hold a seat on the Executive Board, providing me with the opportunity to discuss, assess, and contribute to the strategic priorities of the company both in my capacity as chief legal officer and as a business partner. Participating in the strategic decision-making process also enables me to keep my legal team informed, giving them a better understanding of the management’s needs and allowing us to strengthen our capabilities accordingly.

The company’s focus on digitalisation, creating a paperless environment, sustainability efforts, and enhancing customer loyalty has been inspiring for both me and the legal team. All these topics align with core legal objectives and match our performance indicators. For example, building data verification processes to enhance the quality of our customer database would support the company’s digitalisation and paperless ambitions. Designing legitimate marketing documentation and customer touchpoints would support cross-sell activities. Legally well-designed product clauses would contribute to achieving sustainability targets.

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

As the AI Act has recently been approved in the EU, we are beginning to see the reflections and the need for the safe use of AI in Türkiye as well. Especially from the perspective of (potential) discrimination, bias, and accurate decision-making processes, the need for risk-based AI governance becomes crucial. I believe the AI Act will trigger new risk measures and internal control activities, as well as the redesigning of processes that would affect multinational companies operating in Türkiye in the first place. Subsequently, I expect our local data privacy authority to also prioritise this new era, and legislative actions would follow suit.

Thus, AI implementations, governance, and their legal consequences are our new focus areas. As the Allianz Türkiye Legal team, we have already established a task force consisting of volunteer colleagues who are enthusiastic about AI-based opportunities and legal tech initiatives. I can proudly say that our efforts have paid off so far; we have achieved a high productivity gain through the RPA solutions we use in our legal services.