About

Head of legal and compliance at Nomura’s Italian branch, Laura Del Favero has made numerous changes to the workings of the investment bank’s legal and compliance department. In doing so, she has successfully managed to push the bank towards the forefront of the market. Covering a wide range of activities, Del Favero sees fit to delegate members of her team to specific practice areas, leading to expert knowledge and specialisation for her to call upon. Information sharing and networking are also a priority; regular meetings between legal and compliance people in other Nomura continental offices are held for the benefits of knowledge sharing. Weekly catch-ups with local senior management also take place, in order to increase the team’s visibility and to inform other business partners of relevant matters. Complex initiatives undertaken by Del Favero include a cross border compliance project with the local law on corporate liability, Nomura being one of the first branches of foreign banks in Italy to implement such a project. An example of leading by example and establishing best practice, she cites the way the market has followed suit as evidence of her innovation. Del Favero relishes the opportunity to be flexible and to ‘rise to new challenges constantly’ as opposed to dealing with issues through a by-the-numbers approach. After the recent expansion of her remit, she now provides support for legal and compliance matters to other Nomura offices in Turkey, Finland and Sweden. In terms of contributing to forming opinions within the industry, Del Favero’s visibility and influence has increased considerably in recent years; in 2014 she was appointed as Chair of the Legal and Compliance committees of the Association of Foreign Banks in Italy (AIBE). Again proving her networking and technical skills, this position allows her to liaise with law firms to identify new legal trends and share them in dedicated workshops and seminars.