CLAUDIA POLITANSKI IS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT RESPONSIBLE for the legal department, the ombudsman office, human resources, corporate affairs and marketing at Brazil’s Itaú Unibanco. Politanski received a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of São Paulo, an LL.M. from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from Brazil’s Fundação Dom Cabral. She began working as an intern at Unibanco in 1991 in the legal advisory area when she was in the fourth year of college. Based in São Paulo, Itaú Unibanco is the largest bank in Latin America, the company says. It provides retail, corporate, investment banking and asset management services. It operates in 18 countries and has 94,779 employees, 955 branches, as well as $447 billion in assets. It is in the following markets: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, U.S., Bahamas, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and the UAE.

LEGAL TEAM: The bank has 450 internal attorneys, 700 analysts who take care of operational processes, and some 290 legal offices that support the bank externally. She oversees the legal function, often providing guidelines, and monitors legal risk. She is a member of the bank’s executive committee and VP of the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban).