About

Armed with a decorated career of nearly 30 years of providing effective and reliable advice, Ulises Canosa Suárez of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Colombia (BBVA Colombia) has regularly demonstrated his aptitude for leadership. In his position as general secretary and executive and legal affairs vice president of the Colombian arm of the Spanish banking group, he dispenses this effective and reliable advice by command of an exhaustive team of 89 in-house lawyers divided into areas such as legal, compliance, consumer defense and insurance. Under the leadership of Canosa Suárez, the legal function has ‘become a key ally to the business via support with innovation, opportunity, precision, clarity, facility, efficiency and safety’. This has happened against considerable challenges when trying to adapt the company’s legal services to the changing needs of the modern world, ‘where the technology and the digital environment are revolutionising the way of mitigating against legislation, regulatory authorities and the judiciary, three areas which have not evolved with the same dynamism’. Now, BBVA Colombia’s legal services utilise diverse technological tools, including Google applications, which greatly expedite their responses to frequently asked questions from the business. The bank’s legal services are now constantly reviewed, within BBVA Colombia’s new legal framework, in a way that certifies that legal services remain accessible to internal and external customers. Canosa Suárez’s reorganisation of BBVA Colombia’s legal services structure has ensured that it now provides an efficient and opportune advisory function that can ensure good development of the organisation’s activities, taking advantage of contemporary legal innovations. His solutions effectively protect the group’s interests and guarantees satisfactory coverage of legal risk at the same time. One secret to Canosa Suárez’s success is his people-first mentality which has seen him implement internal policies designed to realise a healthy work-life balance. ‘Allowing the employees to work in a pleasant environment that contributes to their individual and professional growth in turn allows them to be part of a solid and motivated team, which is great for BBVA Colombia’.