Tolga Erendaç joined Burgan Bank in May 2015 following its acquisition of Eurobank Tekfen and with a mandate to restructure the legal team in line with the bank’s changing vision and strategy. Erendaç constructed a ‘business-oriented’ team, which now comprises ten lawyers and four non-legal staff, and focuses on creating interactive relationships with internal clients. Erendaç comments: ‘we created web portals, one for letting top management track corporate governance documentation and the other one is created for answering daily queries raised by branches. All standard terms and conditions have been simplified, and written with a customer friendly language. The litigation processes have been also fastened by changing incorrect and ineffective practices, reducing overall cost’. Erendaç formerly worked as a senior legal counsel at HCBC and Citi, as well as local banks Bayindirbank, Etibank and Interbank. ‘Thinking through a business wise perspective, trying to capture the big picture when analysing matters and working closely with internal clients’, Erendaç says when referring to his approach. ‘I think these working methods make the problems easier to handle, and they have developed my communication and managerial skills’.