Leaders League. Do you have any tips for
women interested in a financial career?
Giselle Luna de Mello. I believe a solid
education, including having an MBA, is im-
portant for anyone interested in pursuing
a career in finance. It is also important to
participate in seminars, internal and exter-
nal training programs and courses related to
one’s area of interest in order to keep up to
date on markets and products. As with any
career, the challenge of balancing work, per-
sonal objectives and family is really impor-
tant, so it can be challenging when women
decide to have children. However, these
days you see many families faced with the
decision of whether it is the father or mother
who stays at home and uti-
lizes the benefits of a flexible
work environment that has
helped many women to focus
on their work and careers. I
still believe there is room for
improvement.Leaders League. What is
your personal experience of
being a woman in finance?
G. M. When I began my
career in Brazil 27 years ago,
I was one of very few women
applying for a position in the
financial market. I embraced
each opportunity with a tremendous
amount of determination. I never once
thought about gender. I was there to do
my job and, more than anything else, feel
fulfilled by my work. I’m proud to say that
within Wells Fargo’s Latin America Group
we have nine country manager positions
and five of those countries are led by female
leaders. The environment today is very
different from when I started, when women
were mostly hired for support positions.
Today, women are participants in all areas
of the industry: retail, commercial lending,
investment banking, trading floors, etc.Leaders League. What are some of the
challenges that can be encountered when
investing in the Latin American market
today?
G. M. Wells Fargo has been proudly sup-
porting our clients in the region for more
than 40 years. We pride ourselves in un-
derstanding each country and helping our
clients manage through volatility. Latin
America is mostly comprised of emerging
countries and, as a result, is more exposed
to market shifts. We want to understand
each country and adjust accordingly. You
may decide to reposition your portfolio to
shorter tenors, more secured transactions
or less risky counterparties.Leaders League. What are
some of the differentiated
services Wells Fargo ‘Glo-
bal Financial Institutions’
provide?
G. M. We are part of Wells
Fargo and we follow our
Vision & Values. We are
here to help our customers
to succeed financially. La-
tin America is a very im-
portant region for Wells
Fargo. We believe in deve-
loping and investing in
long term relationships
with our customers. Each country has its
unique characteristics and we offer the set
of products that best fit customers’ needs.
We work together with a number of bank
partners dedicated to the region and who
share our commitment to supporting La-
tin America. What distinguishes Wells
Fargo is our focus on building and stren-
gthening long term relationships with our
customers. We are also committed to en-
suring we comply with the regulatory en-
vironment and we truly believe com-
pliance is a competitive advantage at
Wells Fargo.Gisele Luna de Mello is Regional Manager for South America at Wells Fargo Global
Financial Institutions (GFI), a company which provides services to financial institutions and
multilateral agencies. She talks about GFI’s main advantages and shares her views
on the current Latin American market, as well as the role of women in finance.“The challenge of balancing work, personal
objectives and family is really important”
GISELE LUNA DE MELLO
Regional Manager for South
America, WELLS FARGO
GLOBAL FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS
EXPRESS BIO
(^) Gisele Luna de Mello has a BA in Business
and Finance from Universidade Federal
do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and an MBA
in International Business Banking from
Fundação Vargas (FGV) in
Sao Paulo.
(^) Prior to Wells Fargo, Gisele was head
of the Financial Institutions and Debt
Capital Markets Group for the Americas
at Standard Bank. She also worked for
Bank of America in Brazil as head of the
Financial Institutions and Debt Capital
Markets, Global Treasury and Structure
Trade Finance Group.
(^) She is responsible for managing GFI
offices in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina
and Brazil.
“EACH COUNTRY
HAS UNIQUE
CHARACTERISTICS
AND WE OFFER THE
SET OF PRODUCTS
THAT BEST FIT
CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS”
BANK INFORMATION
(^) Wells Fargo GFI provides a set of financial
services that includes treasury
management, payments, collections,
clearing, investment, capital markets,
credit, and trade-processing. There are
more than 3,000 Wells Fargo team
members in 120 countries.