Team size: Approx. 120 across the Legal Department, and the Financial Crime Prevention department

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

As General Counsel in the heavily regulated finance sector, compliance is always a priority. I’ve spent the last years dedicated myself to enhancing compliance and governance, particularly in the realm of financial crime prevention. This commitment led to my role as interim operational head of financial crime prevention in August 2024, and subsequently, my appointment as Local Head of Financial Crime Prevention from January 1, 2025. The legal team and I have also worked on a project within the bank that develops new user interfaces with our customers – namely building a new mobile and web bank for the personal customers of the bank, with a strong focus on savings and investments. We didn’t wait for an invitation; we proactively inserted ourselves into the project.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

To be able to forge robust working relationships with the management team. This allows the essential gathering of pertinent information and to engage in critical facets of the business.

As a General Counsel, it is also important to understand that your role extends beyond mere legal matters; you must adopt a holistic perspective and provide guidance across all business-relevant areas. You have to bridge the business-legal divide and dive into non-legal issues with vigour and get your hands dirty also on non-legal issues.

In a larger business, you have to build an outstanding legal team within the core business areas. This means both attracting and developing talents and being able to meet the shifting requirements of legal competence from the business side.

What do you think sets you apart from other in-house counsel?

With nearly two decades of in-house experience, and work as a deputy judge and prosecutor, I have honed an instinct for striking a good balance between being a business enabler and safeguarding the company’s reputation and integrity.

Further, I’ve come to realise that while the legal aspect is crucial, it’s merely a slice of the pie, not the whole dessert. Some lawyers get tangled up in legal minutiae and lose sight of the broader picture.

When presenting legal advice to management, my goal is also to demystify complex legal concepts for non-lawyers. If your advice isn’t understood, it holds no real value. Therefore, I make it a point to steer clear of legal jargon and focus on making the information accessible and comprehensible.