Biography: Banking

Alfonso Peña Robirosa is an expert in banking and finance. After graduating from Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1984, he joined Citibank NA, where he was involved in the creation and organisation of the legal department that would manage the legal affairs of Citibank NA, Citicorp Banco de Inversión, SA, and all Citicorp subsidiaries in Argentina.

From then and up to December 1998, he participated actively in the preparation and negotiation of all kinds of financial, banking, investment and money-desk contracts, the development of new products, negotiations with the Argentine government designed to obtain the approval of investments under the OPIC provisions, the purchase and/or sale of Citicorp companies in Argentina and abroad, and the acquisition of financial institutions such as Banco Mayo, among other duties.

In January 1999, he was appointed general counsel to BankBoston NA for Argentina and the Southern Cone (Panama, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay), where he participated in a programme designed to boost the growth of BankBoston's businesses, branches and investments in Argentina and Latin America. His duties included developing and providing legal advice in connection with the Fondo Común de Inversión 1784, a mutual fund that in January 2001, before the Argentine economic crisis, had two billion dollars under management, which made it the largest mutual fund in Argentina.

In January 2001, in the light of the economic emergency, he focused on the Argentine crisis and its impact on the bank, the Fondo Común de Inversión 1784, and the group's companies in Argentina.

In his capacity as general counsel to BankBoston NA, Argentina, and also as a member of the Asociación de Bancos de Argentina (ADEBA) and the Comité de Abogados de Bancos, he participated in negotiations with the Argentine government and in meetings with domestic and international agencies, during the 2001 Argentine financial crisis and until January 2004, when he was appointed general counsel to Telecom Argentina. In that capacity he participated in the restructuring of the group's debt, the renegotiation of contracts and tariffs with the Argentine government, the analysis and discussion of a bill of Congress on telecommunications and a bill on utilities, as well as several aspects and disputes associated with antitrust matters and consumer rights.

In April 2005, he left Telecom to become involved in the creation and organisation of Rattagan Macchiavello Arocena & Peña Robirosa, providing legal advice to banks, investments funds, broker dealers and companies, locally and/or abroad, in their financial transactions and M&A.