Kate has over 20 years' experience and is recognised as an outstanding adviser for financial services regulation with clients spanning leading financial institutions through to start-ups. Kate and her dedicated financial services regulation team specialise in financial crime (including AML/CTF, sanctions and POCA), Australian financial services and Australian credit licensing, privacy laws and standard form documentation for financial products, payment system regulation, regulator relationships and board advisory.
In recognition of her achievements, Kate is a ranked lawyer for Financial Services Regulation in the Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific Guide, and has been consistently listed as one of Australia’s Best Lawyers in the Banking and Finance division.
Kate has also advised clients from Australia, Europe and the US on market entry across a range of industries particularly in financial services.
Kate’s recent AML and sanctions experience includes:
- 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.
Kate’s consumer and small business lending experience include:
- Acting 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 86-400’s 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
Kate’s recent payments experience includes:
- Advising global online remittance provider on its engagement with the RBA, ASIC and APRA in relation to its Australian remittance and other payment services.
- Advised UK-based direct debit processor on product design, their approach to AFS licensing and other Australian regulatory requirements and the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) rules.
- Advised global payments processor on the Australian regulatory considerations relevant to credit card acquiring and direct debit processing and multicurrency processing.
- Advised a global duty free shopping currency processing business, on Australian financial services licensing and AML/CTF requirements in relation to their refund service and dynamic currency conversion service.
- Advised online money remittance provider on their launch in Australia, covering a range of financial regulatory requirements including incorporation in Australia, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) and financial services licensing requirements. We also drafted customer facing documentation and continue to provide ongoing support.
- Acting for online money remittance provider looking to launch its digital wallet and linked card in the Australian market. To date this has involved obtaining a bespoke exemption from ASIC to issue a non-cash payment facility in Australia, and liaising with the RBA, APRA and AUSTRAC in relation to its plans for expansion.
- Developed an Australian AML/CTF program for a provider of mobile money remittance from Australia to developing countries.
- Advised British multi-national company on its AML/CTF and Australian financial services licensing compliance obligations.
- Advised an international financier on the establishment of a remittance platform to enable Tongan workers in Australia to efficiently and effectively transfer money from Australia to Tonga.
