Team size: 20

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

My role has been to lead these processes from a strategic legal perspective, ensuring not only regulatory compliance, but also sound risk management and alignment with the institution’s business objectives. This has involved coordinating cross-functional teams, engaging with business and risk units and translating operational needs into efficient and sustainable contractual structures.

The impact of my work is reflected in the ability to deliver complex initiatives within tight timelines, optimising processes and generating efficiencies both in implementation and in the ongoing operation of the products. In this way, I have contributed to accelerating the time-to-market of new financial solutions, strengthening the corporation’s competitiveness within the sector.

Can you describe an instance where your legal advice directly influenced business strategy or commercial objectives?

In all instances related to the development of new businesses, the legal team is actively involved from the earliest stages, playing a fundamental role in shaping the strategy. This is because, operating within a highly regulated industry such as the financial sector, any commercial initiative requires solid legal validation and structuring.

What key trends should in-house counsel be monitoring over the coming months?

For the sector we oversee within our financial group, there is no doubt that one of the most important challenges we will face in the coming months will be the implementation of the new open finance regulations and the new regulatory framework for the fiduciary business.

In the context of the financial sector, we are experiencing a moment of structural transformation that goes beyond a simple regulatory adjustment: it implies a change in how institutions operate, interact with clients, and manage risks.

The implementation of the new open finance regulation represents, first and foremost, a technological and strategic challenge. This model promotes the opening and exchange of financial data between entities — now on a mandatory basis — which requires strengthening technological infrastructures, ensuring high cybersecurity standards and redefining information governance frameworks. It is not merely about complying with a regulatory mandate, but about adapting to an environment where data is a shared asset and where competition expands to new players. In this sense, the challenge also becomes an opportunity to innovate products, personalise offerings and enhance the user experience, always under the principle of consumer protection.

On the other hand, the new regulation governing the fiduciary business introduces additional requirements. Institutions must review their risk management models, particularly those related to asset management, disclosure practices and fiduciary responsibilities toward beneficiaries.

The ability to anticipate, properly interpret regulation and translate it into efficient processes will be a key differentiator.

Those institutions that manage to address these challenges strategically will not only mitigate regulatory risks, but also position themselves more effectively in an increasingly dynamic and collaborative financial environment.

How has the role of general counsel evolved, and what are the most important attributes for the modern in-house lawyer?

The most important attribute is the ability to understand the needs of the business and to find the most appropriate way to develop its initiatives within the highly regulated environment in which we operate.