Team size: Five

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Over the past twelve months, the Brankas legal and compliance team has been working on securing license applications and regulatory certifications in Indonesia and the Philippines. For both jurisdictions, our team decided to handle in-house the review of pertinent regulatory frameworks, the preparation of the application packets, and the presentations before the regulators, leveraging support from the relevant business units concerned. Our proactive and synergised approach paid off well, with the Bank of Indonesia granting PT Brankas Teknologi Indonesia the Payment Service Provider (PJP) Category 3 License in February 2023 and the Bangko Sentral Pilipinas approving Brankas Digital Technologies registration as an Operator of Payment Systems in March 2023.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

Technological advancements in contract management, regulatory compliance and board management will most impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future. In-house teams nowadays are susceptible to frequent turnovers due to the increasing demand for experienced in-house lawyers, particularly in the growing fintech industry, and it is essential to have continuity in legal operations. Automating these critical areas would help absorb the impact of abrupt turnovers and provide a smoother transition for newly onboarded teammates.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

I have always viewed in-house legal teams as business enablers, even as we perform the role of legal risk managers of the organisation. Our team has decided to adopt the stakeholder management approach in dealing with our business partners, and we have made a conscious effort to provide sound legal advice and strategic solutions to our stakeholders. This, in turn, has encouraged our business partners to provide us with more detailed information and better insights as to what they wish to accomplish, creating a healthier and more collaborative environment for our in-house legal team to work in.