Features Banking

Just a little over 30 years old as a financial institution—and only seven of those as a validated bank—Grupo Financiero BASE is downright young when it comes to the banking industry: Its competitors and contemporaries have many more decades, very often centuries, of experience behind them. But youth also means there is ample opportunity for […]

General counsel and vice president of BMO Harris Financial Advisors since October 2015, Amanda Demas recalls how with a previous firm she witnessed an aggressive middle-aged son bringing his very elderly mother into an office and practically strong-arming her into restructuring her portfolio to his favor. “Prior to then, his mother was always on top […]

Banco Panameño de la Vivienda (Banvivienda) had been servicing Panamanian Mortgages for 25 years when it expanded to become a universal bank around 2006. Today the bank has more than 55,000 customers, six branches in Panama City, another six in surrounding towns, as well as dozens of ATMs and online banking centers around the country. […]

A job offer like this comes around maybe once in a career—if you’re lucky. Having just turned 30, Daniel Pérez -Umaña understood, both professionally and personally, the weight and stakes of what was in front of him: a job as general counsel for BAC Credomatic, one of Central America’s largest banks. And yet, he hesitated […]

Heads down, earbuds in, fingers forever scrolling the latest story or social media feed, our cellphones have become the most powerful tools in our daily lives—even an extension of ourselves. But getting our phones to recognize us as individuals? Until recently, that was the stuff of science fiction. According to one of its top attorneys, […]

When it’s time to move in or move on, wouldn’t it be nice for landlords and renters to know more about each other? In what condition did the tenant leave their past apartment? Did they get their full security deposit back? And how about the owner or property manager—how frequently did they withhold a portion […]

Rare may be the person among us who’s not on a first-name basis with someone incarcerated. At any given moment, there are around 2.3 million Americans being detained in a local, county, state or federal facility. Whether it be for a short stay in jail or a long stretch in prison, some kind of positive […]

From the black swivel chairs to the gaggle of suits across the long wooden table, the conference room looks a lot like those John Vardaman frequented during his days as an assistant deputy chief at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Only this time, his audience isn’t fellow lawyers, but bank executives eager to learn […]

Often, legal departments among competing businesses are separated by at least a polite distance. But if there’s a greater good to be pursued, some teamwork would seem in order. That sentiment guides Jorge Alfredo Marroquín Cabrera in his new capacity as corporate and regulatory legal manager of Banco G&T Continental, as he forges relationships with […]

Karen McDonough gets paid to think about retirement, all day every day. Not her own, mind you rather the multi-billion-dollar retirement and employee benefits industry that her employer, USI Consulting Group (USICG), caters to. As the chief legal officer explains, the retirement and benefits industry is in a constant state of flux: She and her […]