About

At the age of 27 Rita Gaspar Simões became the first woman to hold the position of head of legal and compliance at Banco Invest. She recalls the first days at Banco Invest and how challenging it was: ‘I became part of an organisation reigned by men in 86% of its departments, many of whom have built Banco Invest brick by brick since its incorporation. I really had to struggle to gain their trust and respect in order to be able to start giving voice to the legal and compliance department’. Gaspar Simões assumed her role at Banco Invest in 2011, around the same time that the Portuguese government had just resigned and the intervention of the Troika in the country had a major impact on the banking sector, affecting all activities of Banco Invest. Gaspar Simões took a guiding role in the introduction of important reforms, in order to comply with the new environment. ‘I had to develop the applicable procedures of the legal and compliance department, and also to propose amendments to some of Banco Invest’s internal rules and policies’ she says. During the last four years the use of external legal support decreased considerably, even for big cases, which demonstrates the trust that the business had in her skills and expertise. Winning the trust of the business and making the legal department a division that mattered have been the biggest achievements of her in-house career. As of October 2015, Gaspar Simões is the general manager of Barraferros.