Career Biography

Guido Franco Cordero is a lawyer with more than 20 years of experience leading legal functions in highly regulated corporate environments, with strong expertise in business law, securities law, administrative law, and corporate governance. He has established himself as a leading figure in the Bolivian securities market, distinguished by his strategic approach and technical expertise in financial regulation.

He holds a law degree from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés and master’s degrees in administrative law and in legal management, business, commerce, and compliance. His academic background is complemented by specialisations and diplomas in financial, banking, business, and constitutional law, as well as international certifications in blockchain, smart contracts, and information security.

He currently serves as legal manager at Entidad de Depósito de Valores de Bolivia S.A., where he leads legal strategy and regulatory compliance for an essential part of the country’s financial market infrastructure. His career also includes experience in the judicial public sector, participation in the external advisory team of the Bolivian Stock Exchange, and roles at recognised law firms.

His experience focuses on comprehensive legal advice relating to securities transactions, securities issuances, sector-specific regulation, corporate governance, and legal risk management, providing direct value to senior management in decision-making. He is particularly skilled at transforming complex regulatory frameworks into practical legal solutions aligned with the organisation’s strategic objectives.

Alongside his corporate career, he is an active undergraduate and postgraduate lecturer, with experience teaching professionals in areas including business law, securities law, and information technology law. He has participated as an international speaker at specialist conferences on law and information technology, representing Bolivia at high-level academic forums.

His career and leadership have been recognised nationally. He was awarded the ‘Emblema de Oro’ by Department IX – Cyber Defence of the Bolivian Army in recognition of his distinguished service. He has also been recognised and included for three consecutive years in The Legal 500 GC Powerlist, which recognises leading corporate lawyers in the country.

Guido Franco Cordero combines executive leadership, technical expertise, and strategic vision, positioning him as a prominent and influential corporate lawyer in Bolivia.

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Over the past year, my legal team and I have led a number of initiatives, of which I would highlight two significant projects, assuming legal responsibility from conceptualisation through to regulatory approval.

Firstly, the registration of guarantee instruments through book-entry records, such as guarantee bonds, first-demand guarantees, and surety bonds. This project promotes the use of electronic guarantees, eliminating the use of paper and the risks of forgery, while providing legal certainty for the procurement system and, in particular, for procurement by Bolivian public-sector entities.

Secondly, a data analytics service, providing statistical information on the securities market to support strategic decision-making, risk mitigation, and trend analysis.

Given the disruptive nature of these projects, I led the coordination, drafting, and substantiation of the necessary regulatory and contractual frameworks before the regulator and relevant stakeholders, ensuring compliance with the applicable regulatory requirements.

Based on your experiences over the past year, is there a particular trend in the legal or business world that you are monitoring and that you believe other in-house lawyers should be aware of?

I believe that distributed ledger technologies (DLT), such as blockchain and smart contracts, have become strategic tools that legal departments need to master. This requires an assessment of the legal nature of the code, jurisdiction and applicable law, privacy and data protection, and regulatory compliance.