“Alexa, transfer $2,000 from my savings account to my checking account, then make a car payment and pay the electric bill.”

James Chosy, executive vice president and general counsel of U.S. Bancorp, envisions a day soon when a consumer using his bank would be able to transfer money and pay bills by voice command, as well as make use of other technological innovations.

In a recent interview with Corporate Counsel, Chosy detailed how he has reshaped his legal department to respond to the industry's demand for digital products and more use of technology in general across banking. He has added some 34 lawyers in the past 18 months to keep pace with changing business needs, he said.

Chosy recalled, “When I got into banking [in the 1990s], you had to have deep expertise in one core discipline of law, such as contracts. Then after the financial crisis [of 2008], everyone had to also become a regulatory lawyer. Now we are adding a third dimension: technology.”

Chosy said the industry is moving so rapidly that he decided to increase the entire department's base knowledge and understanding of technology. He brought in outside speakers and launched a series of in-house seminars on different areas, such as virtual reality computers, digital marketing and payment apps. And a senior counsel from Microsoft Corp. gave a session on cloud technology.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, with 74,000 employees, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, which is the fifth-largest U.S. bank. Chosy, who serves on the bank's management team, oversees 230 legal department employees including 140 in-house lawyers.

Chosy served as associate GC of the bank from 1995—when the legal department was composed of just 10 lawyers—through 2000, and as secretary from 2000 to 2001. Then he became general counsel of investment banker Piper Jaffray Companies from 2001 to 2013, when he rejoined U.S. Bancorp as general counsel, according to his bio.

He said the products and services now on the market may still be here in five years, “but the way we deliver them and the way we interact with clients will be quite different.”

To adapt to the changes, the growing legal staff has tackled various projects, including a standalone privacy department, Chosy said. Growing from one to five privacy lawyers, he said it handles all issues related to privacy and data management, including AI, blockchain, voice recognition technology and cybersecurity.

Chosy also created an ethics center within the law department to work while a companywide ethics department resided in human resources. But in 2016, the bank moved the entire ethics process, including a global ethics officer, into Chosy's legal department. The process includes an ethics hotline and cultural training.

Chosy explained: “One of the key questions now is what should you do with a given data set? It may be legal to do X or Y, but ethically, should you?”

He also created a center for technology and digital initiatives. He described it as a collection of law professionals across disciplines who partner on bank initiatives that have to do with technology.

Among other innovations:

• U.S. Bank recently became the first bank, they said, to offer some banking services, such as tell a customer's balance, on all three major voice platforms: Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple Siri.

• In September the bank announced a new option for small businesses to apply for and receive a loan or line of credit totally online—using a mobile device, tablet or computer.

•It also recently offered a U.S. Bank loan portal for mortgage customers and an online tool to receive quick car loan approvals.

Chosy said, “I feel like we are at one of those moments in history, like the regulatory crisis, when it is an important time to be a bank lawyer, when the clients need us more than ever to help them navigate the landscape.”