CUNEF Universidad hosts a session on the competencies that banking legal services seek in Law graduates

The fifth session of the cycle “Thursday Law at CUNEF Universidad”, on current legal topics, focused on the importance, purpose and complexity of banking law, on the role of legal services in banks and financial institutions, and on the abilities, skills and competencies demanded in Law graduates. During the session, held on 27 February in the Auditorium of the Almansa Campus, the three guest speakers highlighted the following key ideas:

• Experts in banking law advise the different departments on legal risk management, define the legal measures that must be implemented to prevent and mitigate risks, and support these departments in their decision-making processes.
• Banking legal services perform very diverse duties, ranging from providing legal advice, conducting suitability assessments for directors and managers or participating in the preparation of regulatory reports, to drafting contracts, defining internal procedures and regulations, and supervising their implementation.
• In the coming years, as they see an increase in regulations and, consequently, challenges, banks are going to need more lawyers.
• Banking legal services require law graduates with a passion for learning in a context of prolific and ever-changing regulation, the ability to work in multidisciplinary teams, flexibility, dedication to customer service, analytical skills, and the ability to anticipate legal risks.
• Banks’ legal advice departments demand additional skills, including the ability to overcome challenges and obstacles, create opportunities and design new approaches, show rigour in regulatory compliance, collaborate and listen, and build solid and lasting internal and external relationships over time.
• In addition, technology will continue to transform the financial industry, driving increasingly fast regulatory changes. This will open up new opportunities for legal advice, in a context where experts will be required to constantly update their knowledge and specialise in emerging fields.

The guest speakers were Adolfo Díaz-Ambrona, General Counsel at Santander España, Laura Fernández Castro, Head of Regulation at BBVA Legal Services, and Gonzalo Barettino, Secretary General at Banco Sabadell. The session was chaired by Andrés Betancor, Director of the Department of Law at CUNEF Universidad.