Team size: Eight

What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?
Funds, Inc. continues to expand its services as a new fundraising and asset management platform. The legal team’s skill lies in how to create innovative services in the financial domain, where there are many regulatory restrictions. Our service Funds is a two-sided platform, and it is important to balance the supply and demand between fundraisers and investors, who are the providers of funds. My team worked hard to create an optimal UI/UX that meets the various regulations. Another major update was the launch of a venture debt fund in our subsidiary. In addition to the development of the fund structure, the legal team also focused on the documentation of contracts related to corporate bonds and subscription rights for venture debt, where practices have not yet been finalied and there are still many unexamined issues, to ensure innovation and reliability.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?
Funds, Inc, as a group, works with several financial institutions and other business partners. In addition, due to the nature of our financial services business, the legal team works with many different departments within the company. My focus in building good relationships with business partners, both internally and externally, is to always try to be professional and put myself in the other party’s shoes. The former is a natural attitude for an in-house lawyer. The latter perspective not only facilitates business communication, but is also effective when considering negotiation scenarios, and I always try to keep it in mind.
Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives you would like to highlight?
My team is actively involved in not only purely legal issues, but also in what we call “government relations” issues, always with the viewpoint of developing the industry and creating a better society. The FSA’s response to our no-action letter inquiry in June 2023 led to a review of the interpretation of the law and revisions to the rules of self-regulatory organisations. I believe that the legal team should not confine itself to micro issues of legal interpretation but should also develop its activities with an interest in rulemaking and government relations to contribute to the growth of its own business and to the development of society.

How do you motivate and manage the other members of your legal team well?
As a manager, it is very important to keep members motivated and further enhance them. Since I work at a startup, I am involved in some projects as a player, but it is my responsibility as a manager to assess the capability and motivation of the members and maximise their performance as a team. I try to understand what each member values in their work as deeply as possible to control and manage their motivation. I try to understand whether they prefer more challenging projects, whether they find it rewarding to perform routine tasks, or whether they value being able to balance work with their personal lives. I then set semi-annual goals, considering the capabilities of each member, and align each member’s semi-annual goals with the mission to be achieved by the team as well as by the company.