General Counsel of the Year Finalist with Shen Yin, Head of Legal

We’re thrilled to share our Head of Legal and Company Secretary, Shen Yin, has been nominated as a finalist for General Counsel of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards 2023. We recently chatted with Shen on her many contributions to the legal and regulatory change works for Monoova, and what lies ahead with the recent Treasury announcement for the Strategic Plan for Australia’s Payments System.

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Congrats on being named as a finalist for General Counsel of the Year. What achievements are you most proud of in your role as Head of Legal at Monoova?

I am humbled and incredibly delighted to have been shortlisted as a finalist in this prestigious award. I am fortunate to be given the opportunity to lead the legal team at Monoova, where I strive to coach high performing lawyers in the team whilst delivering strategic, value add advice to our business partners (and ultimately contributing to great products and services to our clients!).

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What projects are you currently working on (that you can share!) and what’s in store for the coming year?

During the last 10 months, my team and I have worked on numerous industry leading projects.  Some notable ones include completing the demerger from Moneytech, the launches of innovative products like the PayTo and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) product for our clients.  Additionally we’ve been busy with an upcoming new product launch whilst planning other new products with our business partners.  I am also focusing on continuing to build and enhance our legal function, improving efficiency and streamlining compliance for our stakeholders, as well exploring the use of AI.  Looking ahead, FY24 is an exciting one as we finalise our broader initiatives and projects.

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The Treasury recently released their Strategic Plan for Australia’s Payments System. What are some of the changes that will impact Monoova and the wider payments/fintech space and how do you see the industry evolving?

The proposed changes reaffirm the Government’s previous commitments to recommendations in various payments reviews over the years.  Some proposals have the potential to radically impact the regulatory touchpoints for PSPs in the medium and longer term.  Overall, these reforms are aimed at promoting consumer protection, facilitating transparency in access to payment systems, levelling the competitive landscape for Australian PSPs, modernising payments infrastructure and keeping Australia as the leader in the global payments landscape.

In terms of Monoova, we are driving change and contributing our ideas and feedback through submissions and talking directly to the Treasury and other bodies.  We are also assessing, like our peers and clients, on the impacts of these reforms so that we may advise our business on how to best ‘future proof’ the proposed products for our clients.

As you may know, from the proposed payments licensing consultation papers, it has been proposed that:

• All PSPs need to hold a ‘base licence’, which is likely to be an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) (which we hold at Monoova) and comply with a set of ‘baseline requirements’ such as the revised ePayments Code and technical standards set by industry bodies authorised by the RBA.

• Depending on the type of payment function and the risks associated with the services, each PSP may be subject to graduated regulatory obligation.

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Do you have any advice for young lawyers or someone who’d like to transition to in-house legal counsel in the fintech space?

If you are passionate or curious about innovation and technology and how they can impact positively on businesses and individual consumers like us, be proactive and talk to some people in the fintech space to find out a bit more.

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_{The above information is prepared by Monoova Payments Pty Limited (ABN 38 126 015 227) trading as Monoova (Monoova or We).  Monoova is the authorised representative of Monoova Global Payments Pty Ltd ABN 77 106 249 852; AFSL No. 421414 (formerly known as Moneytech Limited), being the issuer of the Combined Financial Services Guide & Product Disclosure Statement Non-Cash Payment Products and Services (FSG/PDS).  Copies of the FSG/PDS and the ancillary agreements and documents referred to therein are available by contacting Monoova at support@monoova.com.  The above is factual information and given in summary form, and does not purport to be complete.  Information does not take into account of your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs.  Before acting on any information, you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to these matters, and in particular, you should seek independent legal, financial and tax advice.  To the extent that the information contained above is sourced from third parties or provides link to third party websites, Monoova takes no responsibility for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of any information included in the material provided by third parties nor for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of links or references to information sources (including internet sites) operated by third parties.  Information current as at 9 February 2023.  [c] Mononoova.} 

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