Biography: Banking

Diego Martínez is a partner at Cervantes Sainz, SC, and chairman of the banking and securities practice group of the firm. Mr Martinez's main areas of practice are banking, corporate, capital markets and securities, including structured financings, secured and unsecured lending transactions, restructuring and workouts, private and public offerings of debt and equity, securitisation, derivative and asset-backed finance transactions, project finance, real estate transactions and financial regulatory matters. He is a specialist in corporate governance matters also.

He is former manager of banking projects at the National Banking and Securities Commission and he was in charge of the working group who prepared the amendments to several financial laws, including the Mexican Banking Act and the Stock Exchange Act. Additionally, he developed the Code of Best Practices of Corporate Governance for Mexico (issued by the CCE in a joint effort with the CNBV). He worked also in the preparation of the current Banking and Savings Deposits Insurance Act. Finally, he was also involved in the process by which the Mexican Insolvency Law was enacted as well in the creation of the Savings and Public Credit Act.

Currently, Mr Martínez is legal counsel of several banking clients such as Banco Interacciones, SA, Bankia, HSBC, Scotiabank, Banco Santander Central Hispano (Spain), BBVA (Spain), Barclays Bank PLC, Caja de Ahorro del Mediterráneo, Banca Mifel, EBN Banco, Royal Bank of Scotland and BNP Paribas, among others, as well as various publicly held companies such as Grupo Financiero Interacciones, Grupo Herdez, Grupo Radio Centro and Maxcom Telecomunicaciones.

He is often consulted by the CNBV to advise such authority and publicly held companies in corporate governance matters. Mr Martínez is very active in real estate transactions as well representing developers, landlords, tenants and lenders. Some of the acquisitions he has been involved in are the acquisitions of luxury hotels located in Los Cabos, Ixtapa, Cancún and the Rivera Maya, representing US-based investment funds purchasing such real estate assets. He also represented eight banks financing the acquisition of real estate property located in Mexico City destined for the development of approximately 5,000 houses.

Mr Martínez has an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center, with emphasis on banking and securities (2000). He obtained his law degree from Universidad Panamericana, licenciado en Derecho (JD equivalent), 1995. He is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), the American Bar Association (ABA), the Mexican Bar and the Mexican Academy of Finance Law. He speaks Spanish and English fluently.

Biography: Corporate Governance

Diego Martínez is a partner at Cervantes Sainz, SC, and chairman of the banking and securities practice group of the firm. Mr Martinez's main areas of practice are banking, corporate, capital markets and securities, including structured financings, secured and unsecured lending transactions, restructuring and workouts, private and public offerings of debt and equity, securitisation, derivative and asset-backed finance transactions, project finance, real estate transactions and financial regulatory matters. He is a specialist in corporate governance matters also.

He is former manager of banking projects at the National Banking and Securities Commission and he was in charge of the working group who prepared the amendments to several financial laws, including the Mexican Banking Act and the Stock Exchange Act. Additionally, he developed the Code of Best Practices of Corporate Governance for Mexico (issued by the CCE in a joint effort with the CNBV). He worked also in the preparation of the current Banking and Savings Deposits Insurance Act. Finally, he was also involved in the process by which the Mexican Insolvency Law was enacted as well in the creation of the Savings and Public Credit Act.

Currently, Mr Martínez is legal counsel of several banking clients such as Banco Interacciones, SA, Bankia, HSBC, Scotiabank, Banco Santander Central Hispano (Spain), BBVA (Spain), Barclays Bank PLC, Caja de Ahorro del Mediterráneo, Banca Mifel, EBN Banco, Royal Bank of Scotland and BNP Paribas, among others, as well as various publicly held companies such as Grupo Financiero Interacciones, Grupo Herdez, Grupo Radio Centro and Maxcom Telecomunicaciones.

He is often consulted by the CNBV to advise such authority and publicly held companies in corporate governance matters. Mr Martínez is very active in real estate transactions as well representing developers, landlords, tenants and lenders. Some of the acquisitions he has been involved in are the acquisitions of luxury hotels located in Los Cabos, Ixtapa, Cancún and the Rivera Maya, representing US-based investment funds purchasing such real estate assets. He also represented eight banks financing the acquisition of real estate property located in Mexico City destined for the development of approximately 5,000 houses.

Mr Martínez has an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center, with emphasis on banking and securities (2000). He obtained his law degree from Universidad Panamericana, licenciado en Derecho (JD equivalent), 1995. He is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), the American Bar Association (ABA), the Mexican Bar and the Mexican Academy of Finance Law. He speaks Spanish and English fluently.