Legal team size: 1 direct team member and 1 indirect team member

What country you are based in? Kenya

Brenda Aluoch is the head of legal for transaction banking in Africa and the Middle East at Standard Chartered Bank. In this role, she oversees the product legal coverage for all client segments in Africa and Middle East for transaction banking. Since joining Standard Chartered Bank as the first dedicated transaction banking lawyer for the Africa region, Brenda’s role has expanded from covering East Africa to the entire Africa region and further to the Middle East and North Africa.

Her duties include cross-border legal work, deal structuring, document drafting and negotiation, liaising with external counsel, transaction execution, legal research and analysis and advising on the appropriateness, validity and enforceability of various transactions. Brenda’s responsibilities involve regular interaction with colleagues, legal counsel and business stakeholders in various African and Middle Eastern countries in which Standard Chartered Bank is present, and she is deeply involved in bank-wide project innovations. In 2023 Standard Chartered Bank presented her with a “Certificate of Appreciation” in recognition of her expertise in crafting a complex legal agreement for a critical infrastructure project. Another notable award was in 2014 where jointly with a colleague in the compliance function, Brenda was presented with the “Legal and Compliance Balanced Scales Awards – Here for good Award”. This award recognized her legal expertise, proactiveness and innovation spirit.

Before joining Standard Chartered Bank, Brenda’s career took her to Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, where she had to quickly adapt to new environments and operate sensitively in multicultural settings. Her career began in the commercial and conveyancing department of Walker Kontos Advocates in Kenya. She then joined the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya as a legal and enforcement officer, followed by African Alliance Kenya Investment Bank, a South African corporate finance organisation where she led the successful registration of the 1st unit trusts in Kenya.

Brenda then worked as a financial services legal consultant at the African Development Bank in Cote d’Ivoire. Following her consultancy, she joined Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited as Head of Legal and Compliance and Company Secretary. In 2006 she received the “Star Award” as one of the 4 top managers in Kenya. She was then promoted to Regional Legal Manager for Stanbic Bank’s East Africa investment banking unit. This was a new position in Stanbic Bank and she was tasked with developing it and ensuring that it was pivotal to the success of the various investment banking transactions of the unit.

African Development Bank then offered her a position in their legal services department, where she worked in the Finance Division and later transferred to the Public Sector Operations Division before joining Standard Chartered Bank.

Brenda holds a law degree from the University of Warwick and a Master’s in Commercial and Corporate Law from Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. She was admitted to the Kenyan bar and the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya.

Her interests include running, hiking, mentoring the youth and working with charitable programs that advance early childhood education. She also enjoys spending most of her free time with family especially her 5-year-old twins.