Kate Jackson-Maynes

Kate has 20 years’ experience advising on the full range of financial services regulation including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, sanctions, privacy, responsible lending, banking and financial services regulation and payments laws and the ground-breaking areas of blockchain and regtech.

Kate and her dedicated financial regulation team specialise in AML/CTF, sanctions and proceeds of crime, advising banks, financial institutions, payment services providers and fintechs in Australia and offshore on complying with the Australian AML/CTF regime and the expectations of the regulator AUSTRAC.

In recognition of her achievements, Kate is a ranked lawyer for Financial Services Regulation in the Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific Guide for 2019 and 2020 and was listed as one of Australia’s Best Lawyers from 2015 to 2021 in the Banking and Finance division.

Relevant Experience

AML and Sanctions

• Designed, implemented and reviewed AML/CTF Programs for a broad range of reporting entities including big four banks, foreign banks, wealth companies, remitters and gaming companies.
• Assisted financial institutions and gaming companies in responding to AUSTRAC regulatory investigations and designed and implemented remediation programs following investigations or external audits
• Advised the boards of banks on whether issues identified as part of an independent review were breaches of the AML/CTF Act and the likely consequences for the board and the bank of those issues being breaches;
• Worked with AUSTRAC to create a tool to assist reporting entities identify IFTIs
• Obtained exemptions for reporting entities from a range of obligations
• Created a sanctions policy and a risk assessment tool for a government body and large Australian exporter
• Advised banks and other financial institutions on the steps to take in relation to particular transactions to establish a reasonable precaution and due diligence defence.

Consumer and small business lending

• Acted for bank and non-bank lenders both in the distribution of their own branded National Credit Code regulated loans and in white-labelling for third parties. Our role included designing a process for conducting the unsuitability assessment, working with a technology provider to design online on-boarding process for National Credit Code regulated loans, preparing all customer facing documentation, providing opinions for funders covering compliance with National Credit Code, unsuitability assessment and unfair terms and conducting a review of distribution channels for compliance with laws and policies and making recommendations to address any issues identified
• Creation of a digital bank. Our role involved obtaining an Australian credit licence and Australian financial services licence, preparing all customer facing documentation for deposit and lending products that were appropriate for use in an app only environment, working with the app design team on an online on-boarding process and negotiating agreement with screen scraping service and advising on the risks associated with screen scraping  

Privacy

• Advised a range of clients on whether they had a notifiable data breach
• Drafted APP 5 statements and privacy policies for Australian and foreign companies
• Advised remitters on their obligations and rights when receiving payer information
• Advised lenders on the disclosure of loan level data to the RBA without being compelled by law to do so and drafting an Access Deed to meet the expectations of the Information Commissioner
• Advised lenders on the use of access seeker provisions to obtain credit reports
• Advised banks and other corporations on what constitutes “reasonable steps” for the purpose of APP 5
• Advised banks on their privacy obligations under the Privacy Act common law and Banking Act

AFSL

• Advised Australia’s newest neo-bank on the licenses required to carry on business as a bank in Australia. This included assisting to obtain an Australian financial services licence, an Australian credit licence and registration with AUSTRAC. Following their launch last year we have also advised on their ongoing obligations as a bank and a licensee. We also assisted in creating customer facing documentation for use in the Australian market.
• Advised a financial technology company on the licenses required for the launch of a digital wallet product and debit card in Australia. Following this, we assisted to obtain an interim exemption from holding an Australian financial services licence and subsequently obtain a licence for an Australian subsidiary.
• Assisted a bank to vary their Australian financial services licence to provide additional financial services.
• Advised a global payments provider on their obligations as an AFS licensee and assisting to apply for a variation to their AFS licence.