Career Biography

Magdalena Szwarc-Bakuła is a legal executive with more than twenty years of experience in financial services law and regulatory advisory. Since 2025, she has served as a Member of the Management Board of Santander Bank Polska S.A., where she leads the Legal and Compliance Division, overseeing all aspects of legal risk management and regulatory compliance across the bank.

A graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw, she further strengthened her academic credentials with postgraduate studies in Commercial Company Law at the Warsaw School of Economics, an Executive MBA in Marketing and Management at the University of Warsaw, and an Executive MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This combination of rigorous legal education and executive business training has enabled her to operate effectively at the intersection of law, strategy, and corporate leadership.

Magdalena Szwarc-Bakuła’s professional career is closely linked with Santander Bank Polska (soon to be Erste Bank Polska), with which she has been associated for thirteen years (2003–2007 and since 2016). Over this period, she has progressed through a series of increasingly senior leadership roles within the Bank’s legal structures. She initially provided legal support to corporate banking and brokerage operations, subsequently expanding her remit to encompass advisory services for all business lines. Her leadership responsibilities evolved to include managing legal support for complex financial products, transactional structures, and strategic initiatives, as well as close cooperation with IT, HR, and key support functions. Throughout her career at the Bank, she has overseen numerous merger and acquisition and integration processes, most recently successfully leading the legal aspects of the Bank’s separation from the Santander Group and its subsequent integration into the Erste Group.

Between 2016 and 2023, she served successively as Director of the Group Legal Office, Director of the Business Legal Department, and Director of the Legal Department. In 2023, she was appointed Director of the Legal Area, assuming responsibility for comprehensive legal support across the Bank. In this capacity, she supervised multidisciplinary teams of legal experts and ensured consistent, high-quality advisory services aligned with the Bank’s risk appetite and strategic objectives. Her appointment as General Counsel of Santander Group in Poland further confirmed her standing as a trusted advisor at both local and group levels.

Throughout her career, Magdalena Szwarc-Bakuła has played a pivotal role in navigating regulatory change – an increasingly decisive factor in the financial sector. She has overseen the implementation of significant legislative and supervisory developments, strengthening internal governance frameworks and enhancing the Bank’s resilience to legal and regulatory risk.

Before rejoining Santander Bank Polska in 2016, she gained valuable experience at EFG Eurobank where she advised on complex cross-border transactions and high-value financial matters.

Magdalena Szwarc-Bakuła is recognised for her professional integrity, leadership capabilities, and in-depth knowledge of the banking sector. Her career demonstrates sustained achievement in legal leadership, effective management of regulatory challenges, and a consistent contribution to the stability and strategic development of one of Poland’s leading financial institution.