Team size: Ten

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

In addition to various business deals as BAU, I would want to highlight the launch of the HSBC pension fund, which is among the most interesting projects we have undertaken during the first half of the year. Pension funds are not yet prevalent in Vietnam, but HSBC’s management is keen on introducing this benefit to our employees. In the initial stages, we collaborated with HR to explore the feasibility of implementing a pension scheme for HSBC Vietnam staff. Once we obtained the necessary regional approvals, we worked closely with HR to engage with available fund management companies and assess their capabilities. Most importantly, after selecting the fund management service provider for HSBC, we engaged in rigorous negotiations to ensure compliance with both our Group standards and requirements and the local market practices and operational model of the fund manager. Also, we supported HR in introducing the fund to the employees and encouraging them to join.

Can you sum up the team culture or ethos?

From a team perspective, this period has marked a significant achievement for the Legal team as we now boast a complete lineup of nine lawyers, the largest number we have ever had. Our key mission is to provide the best legal advice and support to internal stakeholders, thus it is important to maintain the quality of our works and foster the learning spirit.

As we are under hybrid working conditions, where our team members may choose to work from home for a certain number of days in the week, we are aware of the importance of team cohesion. We have engaged in various activities to be together including team lunches, dinners, sauna trips and charity activities offsite together. With respect to professional work, we work closely with one another, discuss views on newly developed legislation as well as newly arising matters. The team also values openness and honesty.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives?

We work closely with various internal stakeholders to build up forms and templates for green loans and facilities, and with various authorities including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on green initiatives and net zero transmission.

At HSBC, we value diversity and embed an inclusive culture without bias or discrimination. We have the D&I program at Group, ASP and country levels with plenty of activities. Our legal team has joined different initiatives as advisers and participants.

What steps do you take to ensure effective communication and collaboration with external counsel and other stakeholders during the dispute resolution process?

In HSBC, dispute mismanagement risk is one of the risks under the stewardship of the legal function. This is the risk of failure by an HSBC Group entity, or someone acting on its behalf, to take appropriate steps to manage disputes.

There are sets of rules and procedures helping us ensure the whole process of using external lawyers so that effective communication and collaboration with external lawyers during the dispute is just one result deriving from such process. In general, among other things, we undertake the process for: Appointing and instructing external lawyers by strictly following the required procedure and standards, as we prefer using our panel law firms; managing and reviewing external lawyers, including actively tracking and gathering feedback on performance, with regular management information reporting to be in place, and holding a minimum of one annual relationship meeting with law firm representatives; and managing external lawyer conflicts.

During the dispute resolution process, we keep closely communication with external lawyers and ensure that: all procedural deadlines are actioned; a ‘legal hold’ is put in place, when appropriate, to ensure that all relevant documents and records are preserved and can be retrieved; any potential witnesses are promptly identified, and contact maintained with them, as appropriate; liability is not unintentionally admitted in court filings; and the potential for reputational risk is taken into account.

How does the in-house legal team contribute to the overall dispute resolution strategy of the organisation?

We believe that it is crucial to manage disputes at a very early stage. Businesses are advised that whenever they are aware of any risks for litigation, they should refer the matter to the legal team as soon as possible for proper management. Also, any litigation commenced by the bank shall be done so through the legal function, and we liaise with litigation lawyers to discuss the management of this.